Romeo and Juliet

SCENE IV.--2. _Pastry._ That is, the room where pastry was made. Cf.

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_pantry_ (Fr. _paneterie_, from _pain_), the place where bread is kept, etc. Staunton quotes _A Floorish upon Fancie_, 1582:--

"Now having seene all this, then shall you see hard by The pastrie, mealehouse, and the roome whereas the coales do ly."

S. uses _pastry_ only here. For the double meaning of the word, cf. _spicery_ (Fr. _épicerie_), which was used both for the material (_Rich. III._ iv. 4. 424) and the place where it was kept.

4. _Curfew-bell._ As the curfew was rung in the evening, the only way to explain this is to assume that it means "the bell ordinarily used for that purpose" (Schmidt). In the three other instances in which S. has the word (_Temp._ v. 1. 40, _M. for M._ iv. 2. 78, _Lear_, iii. 4. 121), it is used correctly.

5. _Bak'd meats._ Pastry. S. uses the term only here and in _Ham._ i. 2. 180. Nares says that it formerly meant "a meat pie, or perhaps any other pie." He cites Cotgrave, who defines _pastisserie_ as "all kind of pies or bak'd meats;" and Sherwood (English supplement to Cotgrave), who renders "bak'd meats" by _pastisserie_. Cf. _The White Devil:_--

"You speak as if a man Should know what fowl is coffin'd in a bak'd meat Afore it is cut up;"

that is, what fowl is under the crust of the pie. _Good Angelica_ perhaps means Lady Capulet, not the Nurse; and, as Dowden suggests, _Spare not the cost_ seems more appropriate to the former. It may, however, be the Nurse, who here seems to be treated as a kitchen servant--perhaps to avoid the introduction of another character.

6. _Go, you cot-quean_, etc. Several editors give this speech to Lady Capulet; on the ground that the Nurse is not present, having been sent for spices. It has also been suggested that a servant would not venture to be so impudent to her master; but, as we have seen, the Nurse is an old and petted servant who is allowed a good deal of liberty. For the same reason she may not have gone for the spices at once, but may have lingered, gossip-like, to hear what Capulet had to say. A _cot-quean_ is a man who meddles with female affairs; used by S. only here.

11. _Mouse-hunt._ A woman-hunter. For _mouse_ as a term of endearment, see _Ham._ iii. 4. 183, _L. L. L._ v. 2. 19, and _T.N._ i. 5. 69.

13. _Jealous-hood._ Jealousy; the abstract for the concrete; used by S. only here.

16. _Drier logs._ For the kitchen; not a slip like that in i. 5. 30.

21. _Logger-head._ Blockhead. Cf. _L. L. L._ iv. 3. 204: "Ah, you whoreson loggerhead!" So _logger-headed_; as in _T. of S._ iv. 1. 128: "You logger-headed and unpolish'd grooms!"

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