SCENE III. _A Churchyard; in it a Tomb belonging to the Capulets
_Enter_ PARIS, _and his_ Page _bearing flowers and a torch_
_Paris._ Give me thy torch, boy; hence, and stand aloof; Yet put it out, for I would not be seen. Under yond yew-trees lay thee all along, Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground; So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread, Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves, But thou shalt hear it; whistle then to me As signal that thou hear'st something approach. Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee, go.
_Page._ [_Aside_] I am almost afraid to stand alone 10 Here in the churchyard, yet I will adventure. [_Retires._
_Paris._ Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew. O woe! thy canopy is dust and stones, Which with sweet water nightly I will dew, Or, wanting that, with tears distill'd by moans; The obsequies that I for thee will keep Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep.-- [_The Page whistles._
The boy gives warning something doth approach. What cursed foot wanders this way to-night, To cross my obsequies and true love's rite? 20 What, with a torch!--muffle me, night, awhile. [_Retires._
_Enter_ ROMEO _and_ BALTHASAR, _with a torch, mattock, etc_.
_Romeo._ Give me that mattock and the wrenching iron. Hold, take this letter; early in the morning See thou deliver it to my lord and father. Give me the light. Upon thy life, I charge thee, Whate'er thou hear'st or seest, stand all aloof And do not interrupt me in my course. Why I descend into this bed of death Is partly to behold my lady's face, But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger 30 A precious ring, a ring that I must use In dear employment. Therefore hence, be gone; But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry In what I further shall intend to do, By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs. The time and my intents are savage-wild, More fierce and more inexorable far Than empty tigers or the roaring sea.
_Balthasar._ I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you. 40
_Romeo._ So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou that. Live, and be prosperous; and farewell, good fellow.
_Balthasar._ [_Aside_] For all this same, I'll hide me hereabout; His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt. [_Retires._
_Romeo._ Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death, Gorg'd with the dearest morsel of the earth, Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open, And, in despite, I'll cram thee with more food! [_Opens the tomb._
_Paris._ This is that banish'd haughty Montague That murther'd my love's cousin,--with which grief, 50 It is supposed, the fair creature died,-- And here is come to do some villanous shame To the dead bodies; I will apprehend him.-- [_Advances._ Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague! Can vengeance be pursued further than death? Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee. Obey, and go with me, for thou must die.
_Romeo._ I must indeed, and therefore came I hither. Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man. Fly hence, and leave me; think upon these gone, 60 Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth, Put not another sin upon my head, By urging me to fury; O, be gone! By heaven, I love thee better than myself; For I come hither arm'd against myself. Stay not, be gone; live, and hereafter say A madman's mercy bade thee run away.
_Paris._ I do defy thy conjurations And apprehend thee for a felon here. 69
_Romeo._ Wilt thou provoke me? then have at thee, boy! [They fight.
_Page._ O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch. [_Exit._
_Paris._ O, I am slain!--[_Falls._] If thou be merciful, Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet. [_Dies._
_Romeo._ In faith, I will.--Let me peruse this face. Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris! What said my man when my betossed soul Did not attend him as we rode? I think He told me Paris should have married Juliet; Said he not so? or did I dream it so? Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet, 80 To think it was so?--O, give me thy hand, One writ with me in sour misfortune's book! I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave,-- A grave? O, no! a lantern, slaughter'd youth; For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes This vault a feasting presence full of light. Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd.-- [_Laying Paris in the tomb._ How oft when men are at the point of death Have they been merry! which their keepers call A lightning before death; O, how may I 90 Call this a lightning?--O my love! my wife! Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath, Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty. Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, And death's pale flag is not advanced there.-- Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet? O, what more favour can I do to thee Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain To sunder his that was thine enemy? 100 Forgive me, cousin!--Ah, dear Juliet, Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe That unsubstantial Death is amorous, And that the lean abhorred monster keeps Thee here in dark to be his paramour? For fear of that, I still will stay with thee, And never from this palace of dim night Depart again. Here, here will I remain With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here Will I set up my everlasting rest, 110 And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars From this world-wearied flesh.--Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss A dateless bargain to engrossing death!-- Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark! Here's to my love! [_Drinks._]--O true apothecary! 119 Thy drugs are quick.--Thus with a kiss I die. [_Dies._
_Enter_, _at the other end of the churchyard_, FRIAR LAURENCE, _with a lantern_, _crow_, _and spade_
_Friar Laurence._ Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-night Have my old feet stumbled at graves!--Who's there?
_Balthasar._ Here's one, a friend, and one that knows you well.
_Friar Laurence._ Bliss be upon you! Tell me, good my friend, What torch is yond that vainly lends his light To grubs and eyeless skulls? as I discern, It burneth in the Capels' monument.
_Balthasar._ It doth so, holy sir; and there's my master, One that you love.
_Friar Laurence._ Who is it?
_Balthasar._ Romeo. 129
_Friar Laurence._ How long hath he been there?
_Balthasar._ Full half an hour.
_Friar Laurence._ Go with me to the vault.
_Balthasar._ I dare not, sir; My master knows not but I am gone hence, And fearfully did menace me with death If I did stay to look on his intents.
_Friar Laurence._ Stay, then; I 'll go alone.--Fear comes upon me; O, much I fear some ill unlucky thing!
_Balthasar._ As I did sleep under this yew-tree here, I dreamt my master and another fought, And that my master slew him. [_Exit._
_Friar Laurence._ Romeo!-- [_Advances._ Alack, alack, what blood is this, which stains 140 The stony entrance of this sepulchre?-- What mean these masterless and gory swords To lie discolour'd by this place of peace?-- [_Enters the tomb._ Romeo! O, pale!--Who else? what, Paris too? And steep'd in blood?--Ah, what an unkind hour Is guilty of this lamentable chance!-- The lady stirs. [_Juliet wakes._
_Juliet._ O comfortable friar! where is my lord?-- I do remember well where I should be, And there I am.--Where is my Romeo? 150 [_Noise within._
_Friar Laurence._ I hear some noise.--Lady, come from that nest Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep; A greater power than we can contradict Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away. Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead, And Paris too. Come, I'll dispose of thee Among a sisterhood of holy nuns. Stay not to question, for the watch is coming; Come, go, good Juliet. [_Noise again._]--I dare no longer stay.
_Juliet._ Go, get thee hence, for I will not away. 160 [_Exit Friar Laurence._
What's here? a cup, clos'd in my true love's hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.-- O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop To help me after?--I will kiss thy lips; Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, To make me die with a restorative. [_Kisses him._ Thy lips are warm.
_1 Watch._ [_Within_] Lead, boy; which way?
_Juliet._ Yea, noise? then I'll be brief.--O happy dagger! [_Snatching Romeo's dagger._
This is thy sheath [_Stabs herself_]; there rest, and let me die. [_Falls on Romeo's body, and dies._
_Enter_ Watch, _with the_ Page _of_ PARIS
_Page._ This is the place; there, where the torch doth burn. 171
_1 Watch._ The ground is bloody; search about the churchyard. Go, some of you, whoe'er you find attach.-- [_Exeunt some._ Pitiful sight! here lies the county slain; And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead, Who here hath lain these two days buried.-- Go, tell the prince;--run to the Capulets;-- Raise up the Montagues;--some others search.-- [_Exeunt other Watchmen._ We see the ground whereon these woes do lie; But the true ground of all these piteous woes 180 We cannot without circumstance descry.
_Re-enter some of the_ Watch, _with_ BALTHASAR
_2 Watch._ Here's Romeo's man; we found him in the churchyard.
_1 Watch._ Hold him in safety till the prince come hither.
_Re-enter others of the_ Watch, _with_ FRIAR LAURENCE
_3 Watch._ Here is a friar, that trembles, sighs, and weeps. We took this mattock and this spade from him, As he was coming from this churchyard side.
_1 Watch._ A great suspicion; stay the friar too.
_Enter the_ PRINCE _and_ Attendants
_Prince._ What misadventure is so early up That calls our person from our morning's rest?
_Enter_ CAPULET, LADY CAPULET, _and others_
_Capulet._ What should it be that they so shriek abroad? 190
_Lady Capulet._ The people in the street cry Romeo, Some Juliet, and some Paris, and all run With open outcry toward our monument.
_Prince._ What fear is this which startles in our ears?
_1 Watch._ Sovereign, here lies the County Paris slain; And Romeo dead; and Juliet, dead before, Warm and new kill'd.
_Prince._ Search, seek, and know how this foul murther comes.
_1 Watch._ Here is a friar, and slaughter'd Romeo's man, With instruments upon them fit to open 200 These dead men's tombs.
_Capulet._ O heaven!--O wife, look how our daughter bleeds! This dagger hath mista'en,--for, lo, his house Is empty on the back of Montague,-- And is mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom!
_Lady Capulet._ O me! this sight of death is as a bell That warns my old age to a sepulchre.
_Enter_ MONTAGUE _and others_
_Prince._ Come, Montague; for thou art early up, To see thy son and heir more early down.
_Montague._ Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night; 210 Grief of my son's exile hath stopp'd her breath. What further woe conspires against mine age?
_Prince._ Look, and thou shalt see.
_Montague._ O thou untaught! what manners is in this, To press before thy father to a grave?
_Prince._ Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while, Till we can clear these ambiguities, And know their spring, their head, their true descent; And then will I be general of your woes And lead you even to death. Meantime forbear, 220 And let mischance be slave to patience.-- Bring forth the parties of suspicion.
_Friar Laurence._ I am the greatest, able to do least, Yet most suspected, as the time and place Doth make against me, of this direful murther; And here I stand, both to impeach and purge Myself condemned and myself excus'd.
_Prince._ Then say at once what thou dost know in this.
_Friar Laurence._ I will be brief, for my short date of breath Is not so long as is a tedious tale. 230 Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet; And she, there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife. I married them; and their stolen marriage-day Was Tybalt's doomsday, whose untimely death Banish'd the new-made bridegroom from this city, For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pin'd. You, to remove that siege of grief from her, Betroth'd and would have married her perforce To County Paris; then comes she to me, And with wild looks bid me devise some means 240 To rid her from this second marriage, Or in my cell there would she kill herself. Then gave I her, so tutor'd by my art, A sleeping potion, which so took effect As I intended, for it wrought on her The form of death; meantime I writ to Romeo That he should hither come as this dire night, To help to take her from her borrow'd grave, Being the time the potion's force should cease. But he which bore my letter, Friar John, 250 Was stay'd by accident and yesternight Return'd my letter back. Then all alone, At the prefixed hour of her waking, Came I to take her from her kindred's vault, Meaning to keep her closely at my cell Till I conveniently could send to Romeo; But when I came, some minute ere the time Of her awaking, here untimely lay The noble Paris and true Romeo dead. She wakes, and I entreated her come forth 260 And bear this work of heaven with patience; But then a noise did scare me from the tomb, And she too desperate would not go with me, But, as it seems, did violence on herself. All this I know, and to the marriage Her nurse is privy; and, if aught in this Miscarried by my fault, let my old life Be sacrific'd some hour before his time Unto the rigour of severest law.
_Prince._ We still have known thee for a holy man.-- Where's Romeo's man? what can he say in this? 271
_Balthasar._ I brought my master news of Juliet's death, And then in post he came from Mantua To this same place, to this same monument. This letter he early bid me give his father, And threaten'd me with death, going in the vault, If I departed not and left him there.
_Prince._ Give me the letter; I will look on it.-- Where is the county's page that rais'd the watch?-- Sirrah, what made your master in this place? 280
_Page._ He came with flowers to strew his lady's grave And bid me stand aloof, and so I did. Anon comes one with light to ope the tomb, And by and by my master drew on him; And then I ran away to call the watch.
_Prince._ This letter doth make good the friar's words, Their course of love, the tidings of her death; And here he writes that he did buy a poison Of a poor pothecary, and therewithal Came to this vault to die and lie with Juliet.-- 290 Where be these enemies?--Capulet!--Montague! See, what a scourge is aid upon your hate, That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! And I, for winking at your discords too, Have lost a brace of kinsmen; all are punish'd.
_Capulet._ O brother Montague, give me thy hand; This is my daughter's jointure, for no more Can I demand.
_Montague._ But I can give thee more; For I will raise her statue in pure gold, That while Verona by that name is known 300 There shall no figure at such rate be set As that of true and faithful Juliet.
_Capulet._ As rich shall Romeo by his lady lie, Poor sacrifices of our enmity!
Prince. A glooming peace this morning with it brings; The sun for sorrow will not show his head. Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things; Some shall be pardon'd and some punished; For never was a story of more woe 309 Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. [_Exeunt._
NOTES [Illustration: THE NURSE AND PETER]
NOTES
INTRODUCTION
THE METRE OF THE PLAY.--It should be understood at the outset that _metre_, or the mechanism of verse, is something altogether distinct from the _music_ of verse. The one is matter of rule, the other of taste and feeling. Music is not an absolute necessity of verse; the metrical form is a necessity, being that which constitutes the verse.
The plays of Shakespeare (with the exception of rhymed passages, and of occasional songs and interludes) are all in unrhymed or _blank_ verse; and the normal form of this blank verse is illustrated by the second line of the prologue to the present play: "In fair Verona, where we lay our scene."
This line, it will be seen, consists of ten syllables, with the even syllables (2d, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th) accented, the odd syllables (1st, 3d, etc.) being unaccented. Theoretically, it is made up of five _feet_ of two syllables each, with the accent on the second syllable. Such a foot is called an _iambus_ (plural, _iambuses_, or the Latin _iambi_), and the form of verse is called _iambic_.
This fundamental law of Shakespeare's verse is subject to certain modifications, the most important of which are as follows:--
1. After the tenth syllable an unaccented syllable (or even two such syllables) may be added, forming what is sometimes called a _female_ line; as in the 103d line of the first scene: "Here were the servants of your adversary." The rhythm is complete with the third syllable of _adversary_, the fourth being an extra eleventh syllable. In iv. 3. 27 and v. 3. 256 we have two extra syllables,--the last two of _Romeo_ in both lines.
2. The accent in any part of the verse may be shifted from an even to an odd syllable; as in line 3 of the prologue, "From ancient grudge break to new mutiny," where the accent is shifted from the sixth to the fifth syllable. See also i. 1. 92: "Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate;" where the accent is shifted from the second to the first syllable. This change occurs very rarely in the tenth syllable, and seldom in the fourth; and it is not allowable in two successive accented syllables.
3. An extra unaccented syllable may occur in any part of the line; as in line 7 of the prologue, where the second syllable of _piteous_ is superfluous. In i. 1. 64 the third syllable of _Benvolio_, and in line 71 below the second syllable of _Capulets_ and the second _the_ are both superfluous.
4. Any unaccented syllable, occurring in an even place immediately before or after an even syllable which is properly accented, is reckoned as accented for the purposes of the verse; as, for instance, in lines 1, 3, and 7 of the prologue. In 1 the last syllable of _dignity_ and in 3 the last of _mutiny_ are metrically equivalent to accented syllables. In 7 the same is true of the first syllable of _misadventur'd_ and the third of _overthrows_. In iv. 2. 18 ("Of disobedient opposition") only two regular accents occur, but we have a metrical accent on the first syllable of _disobedient_, and on the first and the last syllables of _opposition_, which word has metrically five syllables. In _disobedient_ there is an extra unaccented syllable.
5. In many instances in Shakespeare words must be _lengthened_ in order to fill out the rhythm:--
(_a_) In a large class of words in which _e_ or _i_ is followed by another vowel, the _e_ or _i_ is made a separate syllable; as _ocean_, _opinion_, _soldier_, _patience_, _partial_, _marriage_, etc. For instance, iii. 5. 29 ("Some say the lark makes sweet division") appears to have only nine syllables, but _division_ is a quadrisyllable; and so is _devotion_ in iv. 1. 41: "God shield I should disturb devotion!" _Marriage_ is a trisyllable in iv. 1. 11, and also in v. 3. 241; and the same is true of _patience_ in v. 1. 27 v. 1. 27, v. 3. 221 and 261. This lengthening occurs most frequently at the end of the line.
(_b_) Many monosyllables ending in _r_, _re_, _rs_, _res_, preceded by a long vowel or diphthong, are often made dissyllables; as _fare_, _fear_, _dear_, _fire_, _hair_, _hour_, _your_, etc. In iii. 1. 198: "Else, when he's found, that hour is his last," _hour_ is a dissyllable. If the word is repeated in a verse it is often both monosyllable and dissyllable; as in _M. of V._ iii. 2. 20: "And so, though yours, not yours. Prove it so," where either _yours_ (preferably the first) is a dissyllable, the other being a monosyllable. In _J.C._ iii. 1. 172: "As fire drives fire, so pity, pity," the first _fire_ is a dissyllable.
(_c_) Words containing _l_ or _r_, preceded by another consonant, are often pronounced as if a vowel came between the consonants; as in i. 4. 8: "After the prompter, at our entrance" [ent(e)rance]. See also _T. of S._ ii. 1. 158: "While she did call me rascal fiddler" [fidd(e)ler]; _All's Well_, iii. 5. 43: "If you will tarry, holy pilgrim" [pilg(e)rim]; _C. of E._ v. 1. 360: "These are the parents of these children" (childeren, the original form of the word); _W.T._ iv. 4. 76: "Grace and remembrance [rememb(e)rance] be to you both!" etc. See also on ii. 4. 184 and iii. 1. 89 below.
(_d_) Monosyllabic exclamations (_ay_, _O_, _yea_, _nay_, _hail_, etc.) and monosyllables otherwise emphasized are similarly lengthened; also certain longer words; as _commandement_ in _M. of V._ iv. 1. 442; _safety_ (trisyllable) in _Ham_. i. 3. 21; _business_ (trisyllable, as originally pronounced) in _J.C._ iv. 1. 22: "To groan and sweat under the business" (so in several other passages); and other words mentioned in the notes to the plays in which they occur.
6. Words are also _contracted_ for metrical reasons, like plurals and possessives ending in a sibilant, as _balance_, _horse_ (for _horses_ and _horse's_), _princess_, _sense_, _marriage_ (plural and possessive), _image_, etc. So _spirit_, _inter'gatories_, _unpleasant'st_, and other words mentioned in the notes on the plays.
7. The _accent_ of words is also varied in many instances for metrical reasons. Thus we find both _révenue_ and _revénue_ in the first scene of the _M.N.D._ (lines 6 and 158), _óbscure_ and _obscúre_, _púrsue_ and _pursúe_, _cóntrary_ (see note on iii. 2. 64) and _contráry_, _contráct_ (see on ii. 2. 117) and _cóntract_, etc.
These instances of variable accent must not be confounded with those in which words were uniformly accented differently in the time of Shakespeare; like _aspéct_, _impórtune_ (see on i. 1. 142), _perséver_ (never _persevére_), _perséverance_, _rheúmatic_, etc.
8. _Alexandrines_, or verses of twelve syllables, with six accents, occur here and there; as in the inscriptions on the caskets in _M. of V._, and occasionally in this play. They must not be confounded with female lines with two extra syllables (see on 1 above) or with other lines in which two extra unaccented syllables may occur.
9. _Incomplete_ verses, of one or more syllables, are scattered through the plays. See i. 1. 61, 69, 162, 163, 164, 198, etc.
10. _Doggerel_ measure is used in the very earliest comedies (_L. L. L._ and _C. of E._ in particular) in the mouths of comic characters, but nowhere else in those plays, and never anywhere after 1597 or 1598. There is no instance of it in this play.
11. _Rhyme_ occurs frequently in the early plays, but diminishes with comparative regularity from that period until the latest. Thus, in _L. L. L._ there are about 1100 rhyming verses (about one-third of the whole number), in the _M.N.D._ about 900, and in _Rich. II._ about 500, while in _Cor._ and _A. and C._ there are only about 40 each, in the _Temp._ only two, and in the _W.T._ none at all, except in the chorus introducing act iv. Songs, interludes, and other matter not in ten-syllable measure are not included in this enumeration. In the present play, out of about 2500 ten-syllable verses, nearly 500 are in rhyme.
_Alternate_ rhymes are found only in the plays written before 1599 or 1600. In the _M. of V._ there are only four lines at the end of iii. 2. In _Much Ado_ and _A.Y.L._, we also find a few lines, but none at all in subsequent plays. Examples in this play are the prologue, the chorus at the beginning of act ii., and the last speech of act. v. See also passages in i. 2, i. 5, and v. 3.
_Rhymed couplets_ or "rhyme-tags" are often found at the end of scenes; as in the first scene, and eleven other scenes, of the present play. In _Ham._ 14 out of 20 scenes, and in _Macb._ 21 out of 28, have such "tags"; but in the latest plays they are not so frequent. The _Temp_., for instance, has but one, and the _W.T._ none.
12. In this edition of Shakespeare, the final _-ed_ of past tenses and participles is printed _-'d_ when the word is to be pronounced in the ordinary way; as in _star-cross'd_, line 6, and _misadventur'd_, line 7, of the prologue. But when the metre requires that the _-ed_ be made a separate syllable, the _e_ is retained; as in _moved_, line 85, of the first scene, where the word is a dissyllable. The only variation from this rule is in verbs like _cry_, _die_, _sue_, etc., the _-ed_ of which is very rarely made a separate syllable.
SHAKESPEARE'S USE OF VERSE AND PROSE IN THE PLAYS.--This is a subject to which the critics have given very little attention, but it is an interesting study. In this play we find scenes entirely in verse (none entirely in prose) and others in which the two are mixed. In general, we may say that verse is used for what is distinctly poetical, and prose for what is not poetical. The distinction, however, is not so clearly marked in the earlier as in the later plays. The second scene of the _M. of V._, for instance, is in prose, because Portia and Nerissa are talking about the suitors in a familiar and playful way; but in the _T.G. of V._, where Julia and Lucetta are discussing the suitors of the former in much the same fashion, the scene is in verse. Dowden, commenting on _Rich. II._, remarks: "Had Shakespeare written the play a few years later, we may be certain that the gardener and his servants (iii. 4) would not have uttered stately speeches in verse, but would have spoken homely prose, and that humour would have mingled with the pathos of the scene. The same remark may be made with reference to the subsequent scene (v. 5) in which his groom visits the dethroned king in the Tower." Comic characters and those in low life generally speak in prose in the later plays, as Dowden intimates, but in the very earliest ones doggerel verse is much used instead. See on 10 above.
The change from prose to verse is well illustrated in the third scene of the _M. of V._ It begins with plain prosaic talk about a business matter; but when Antonio enters, it rises at once to the higher level of poetry. The sight of Antonio reminds Shylock of his hatred of the Merchant, and the passion expresses itself in verse, the vernacular tongue of poetry. We have a similar change in the first scene of _J.C._, where, after the quibbling "chaff" of the mechanics about their trades, the mention of Pompey reminds the Tribune of their plebeian fickleness, and his scorn and indignation flame out in most eloquent verse.
The reasons for the choice of prose or verse are not always so clear as in these instances. We are seldom puzzled to explain the prose, but not unfrequently we meet with verse where we might expect prose. As Professor Corson remarks (_Introduction to Shakespeare_, 1889), "Shakespeare adopted verse as the general tenor of his language, and therefore expressed much in verse that is within the capabilities of prose; in other words, his verse constantly encroaches upon the domain of prose, but his prose can never be said to encroach upon the domain of verse." If in rare instances we think we find exceptions to this latter statement, and prose actually seems to usurp the place of verse, I believe that careful study of the passage will prove the supposed exception to be apparent rather than real.
SOME BOOKS FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS.--A few out of the many books that might be commended to the teacher and the critical student are the following: Halliwell-Phillipps's _Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare_ (7th ed. 1887); Sidney Lee's _Life of Shakespeare_ (1898; for ordinary students the abridged ed. of 1899 is preferable); Schmidt's _Shakespeare Lexicon_ (3d ed. 1902); Littledale's ed. of Dyce's _Glossary_ (1902); Bartlett's _Concordance to Shakespeare_ (1895); Abbott's _Shakespearian Grammar_ (1873); Furness's "New Variorum" ed. of _Romeo and Juliet_ (1871; encyclopædic and exhaustive); Dowden's _Shakspere: His Mind and Art_ (American ed. 1881); Hudson's _Life, Art, and Characters of Shakespeare_ (revised ed. 1882); Mrs. Jameson's _Characteristics of Women_ (several eds., some with the title, _Shakespeare Heroines_); Ten Brink's _Five Lectures on Shakespeare_ (1895); Boas's _Shakespeare and His Predecessors_ (1895); Dyer's _Folk-lore of Shakespeare_ (American ed. 1884); Gervinus's _Shakespeare Commentaries_ (Bunnett's translation, 1875); Wordsworth's Shakespeare's _Knowledge of the Bible_ (3d ed. 1880); Elson's _Shakespeare in Music_ (1901).
Some of the above books will be useful to all readers who are interested in special subjects or in general criticism of Shakespeare. Among those which are better suited to the needs of ordinary readers and students, the following may be mentioned: Mabie's _William Shakespeare: Poet, Dramatist, and Man_ (1900); Phin's _Cyclopædia and Glossary of Shakespeare_ (1902; more compact and cheaper than Dyce); Dowden's _Shakspere Primer_ (1877; small but invaluable); Rolfe's _Shakespeare the Boy_ (1896; treating of the home and school life, the games and sports, the manners, customs, and folk-lore of the poet's time); Guerber's _Myths of Greece and Rome_ (for young students who may need information on mythological allusions not explained in the notes).
Black's _Judith Shakespeare_ (1884; a novel, but a careful study of the scene and the time) is a book that I always commend to young people, and their elders will also enjoy it. The Lambs' _Tales from Shakespeare_ is a classic for beginners in the study of the dramatist; and in Rolfe's ed. the plan of the authors is carried out in the Notes by copious illustrative quotations from the plays. Mrs. Cowden-Clarke's _Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines_ (several eds.) will particularly interest girls; and both girls and boys will find Bennett's _Master Skylark_ (1897) and Imogen Clark's _Will Shakespeare's Little Lad_ (1897) equally entertaining and instructive.
H. Snowden Ward's _Shakespeare's Town and Times_ (2d ed. 1903) and John Leyland's _Shakespeare Country_ (enlarged ed. 1903) are copiously illustrated books (yet inexpensive) which may be particularly commended for school libraries.
ABBREVIATIONS IN THE NOTES.--The abbreviations of the names of Shakespeare's plays will be readily understood; as _T.N._ for _Twelfth Night_, _Cor._ for _Coriolanus_, _3 Hen. VI._ for _The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth_, etc. _P.P._ refers to _The Passionate Pilgrim_; _V. and A._ to _Venus and Adonis_; _L.C._ to _Lover's Complaint_; and Sonn. to the _Sonnets_.
Other abbreviations that hardly need explanation are _Cf._ (_confer_, compare), _Fol._ (following), _Id._ (_idem_, the same), and _Prol._ (prologue). The numbers of the lines in the references (except for the present play) are those of the "Globe" edition (the cheapest and best edition of _Shakespeare_ in one compact volume), which is now generally accepted as the standard for line-numbers in works of reference (Schmidt's _Lexicon_, Abbott's _Grammar_, Dowden's _Primer_, the publications of the New Shakspere Society, etc.). Every teacher and every critical student should have it at hand for reference.
PROLOGUE
_Enter Chorus._ As Malone suggests, this probably meant only that the prologue was to be spoken by the same actor that personated the chorus at the end of act i. The prologue is omitted in the folio, but we cannot doubt that it was written by S. It is in form a sonnet, of the pattern adopted in his _Sonnets_. See comments upon it, p. 22 above.
2. _Fair Verona._ The city is thus described in the opening lines of Brooke's poem:[4]--
"There is beyonde the Alps, a towne of auncient fame Whose bright renoune yet shineth cleare, Verona men it name: Bylt in an happy time, bylt on a fertile soyle: Maynteined by the heauenly fates, and by the townish toyle. The fruitefull hilles aboue, the pleasant vales belowe, The siluer streame with chanell depe, that through the towne doth flow: The store of springes that serue for vse, and eke for ease: And other moe commodities, which profite may and please; Eke many certaine signes of thinges betyde of olde, To fyll the houngry eyes of those that curiously beholde: Doe make this towne to be preferde aboue the rest Of Lumbard townes, or at the least compared with the best."
6. _Star-cross'd._ For the astrological allusion, cf. i. 4. 104, v. 1. 24, and v. 3. 111 below. The title of one of Richard Braithwaite's works, published in 1615, is "Love's Labyrinth: or the True Lover's Knot, including the disastrous falls of two Star-crost lovers Pyramus and Thisbe."
8. _Doth._ The reading of the quartos, changed by most of the modern editors to "Do." Ulrici considers it the old third person plural in -_th_. He adds that S. mostly uses it only where it has the force of the singular, namely, where the sense is collective, as in _overthrows_ here. Cf. v. 1. 70 below.
12. _Two hours._ Cf. _Hen. VIII._ prol. 13: "may see away their shilling Richly in two short hours."
[Footnote 4: The entire poem is reprinted in the _Variorum_ of 1821, in Collier's _Shakespeare's Library_ (and Hazlitt's revised ed. of the same), in Halliwell-Phillipps's folio ed. of Shakespeare, and by the New Shakspere Society (edited by P.A. Daniel) in 1875. I have followed Daniel's ed.]