Tybalt ly'st thou there in thy bloody fheet? Why art thou yet fo fair? Shall I believe, (6) And never from this Palace of dim night Depart again. (Come lie thou in my Arms: Here's to thy, Health O true Apothecary! Depart Thy drugs are quick)] Mr Pope's, and fome other of the wor fer editions acknowledge abfurdly the lines which I have put into parentbefis here; and which I have expung'd from the text, for this reafon: Romeo is made to confefs the effect of the poifon be fore ever he has tafted it. I fuppofe, it hardly was fo favoury that the patient fhould chufe to make two draughts of it. And eight lines after thefe, we find him taking the poifon in his hands,, and making an apostrophe to it; inviting it to perform its office at once; and, then, and not 'till then, does he clap it to his lips,or can with any probability fpeak of its inftant force and effects. Befides, Shakespeare would hardly have made Romeo drink to the bealth of his dead Miftrefs. Though the first quarto in 1599, and the two old folies acknowledge this abfurd ftuff, I find it left out in feveral later quarto impreffions, I ought to take notice, that tho' Mr. Pope has thought fit to ftick to the old copies in this addition, yet he is no fair tranfcriber; for he has funk upon us an hemistich of most profound abfurdity, which poffeffes all thofe copies. -Come, lie theu in my Aims: Here's to thy Health, where'er thou tumbleft in. THEOBALD. I have no edition but the folio, which has all the paffage here. mentioned I have followed Mr. Theobald. I am forry to fay that the foregoing note is an inftance of difingenuity, as well as inattention, in Mr. Theobald, who, relying on the fcarcity of the old quartos, very frequently makes them anfwerable for any thing he thinks proper to affert. The quarto in 1599, was not the firft, it was preceded by one in 1597, and though Mr. T. declares, be found the pallage left out in Several of the later quarto impreffions, yet in the lift of those he pretends to have collated for the use of his edition, he mentions but one of a later date, and had never feen either that published in 1609, or another without any date at all; for in the former of thefe the paffage in question is preferved, (the latter I have no copy Depart again: Here, here will I remain, And thake the yoke of inaufpicious ftars From this world-weary'd flesh. Eyes, look your laft! [Drinks the poison. Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kifs I die.. [Dies. Enter copy of) and he has mifplaced that in 1637, on the fingle faith of which he rejected it, among thofe only of middling authority: fo that what he fo roundly afferts of feveral, can with justice be faid of but one, for there are in reality no later quarto editions of this play than I have here enumerated, and two of those (by his own confeffion) he had never met with. The hemiftich, which Mr. T. pronounces to be of most profound abfurdity, deferves a much better character; but being misplaced, could not be connected with the part of the fpeech where he found it, but, being introduced a few lines lower, feems to make very good fenfe. "Come, bitter conduct! come, unfav'ry guide! "Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kife I die." To tumble into port in a form, I believe to be a fea-phrafe, as is a tumbling fea, and agrees with the allusion to the pilot, or the tempeft beaten bark. Here's fuccefs, fays he (continuing the al lufion) to the viffel wherever it tumbles in, or perhaps, to the pilat avbo is to conduct, or tumble it in; meaning, I wish it may fucceed in ridding me of my life, whatever may betide me after it, or whereever it may carry me. He then drinks to the memory of Juliet's love, adding (as he feels the poison work) a fhort apostrophe to the apothecary, the effect of whofe drugs he can doubt no longer, and turning his thoughts back again to the object most beloved, he dies (like Othello) on a kifs. The other hemiftich (not difpofed of) may yet be brought in; how naturally must be left to the reader to determine. The quarto of 1609, exhibits the paffage thus: Ah, dear Juliet! Enter Friar Lawrence with lanthorn, crow, and Spade. Fri. St. Francis be my speed! How oft to-night Have my old feet stumbled at graves ?Who's there? Enter Balthafar. Balth. Here's one, a friend, and one that knows you well. Fri. Blifs be upon you! Tell me, good my friend, What torch is yond, that vainly lends his light "Why art thou yet fo fair? I will believe; "Shall I believe? that unfubftantial death is amorous, "And that the lean, &c." If fuch an idea could have any foundation in nature, or be allowed in poetry, and Romeo in consequence of having raised it to his imagination, was jealous of death, it would follow, that in the first phrenzy of it he might addrefs himself to his mistress, and take her in his arms for the greater fecurity. That being granted, with a flight tranfpofition (one verfe already exceeding the meafure by two feet) the paffage might be read thus: "Ah! dear Juliet, "Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe ? "And that the lean, &c." The whole paffage may perhaps be fuch as hardly to be worth this toil of tranfpofition, but one critick has juft as good a right to offer at the introduction of what he thinks he understands, as another has to omit it because he can make no use of it at all. The whole of the conjecture on both paffages is offered with no degree of confidence, and from no other motive than a defire of preferv ing every line of Shakespeare, when any reason, tolerably plaufible, can be given in its favour. Mr. Theobald has not dealt very fairly in his account of this fpeech, as the abfurdity is apparently owing to the repetition of fome of the lines by a blunder of the printer, who had thereby made Rimeo confefs the effects of the poifon before he had tafted it. This play was confiderably altered and enlarged by the author, after the first copies had been printed, and great as is the improvement made by the additions, the alterations here and there may be for the worfe. To enumerate these is now too late, as they are many in number, and happen in almost every speech. Mr. STEEVENS. As I could not procure a fight of any of the quartos, till I had printed off the whole play, I muft refer the curious reader to the old editions themselves, which will very foon be made publick. Το To grubs and eyelefs fculls? As I difcern, It burneth in the Capulets' Monument. Balth. It doth fo, holy Sir,-and there's my master, One that you love. Fri. Who is it? Balth. Romeo. Fri. How long hath he been there? Balth. Full half an hour. Fri. Go with me to the vault. Balth. I dare not, Sir. My mafter knows not, but I am gone hence; If I did stay to look on his intents. Fri. Stay then, I'll go alone. Fear comes upon me; O, much I fear fome ill unlucky thing. Balth. As I did fleep under this yew tree here, I dreamt, my mafter and another fought, And that my master slew him, Fri Romeo!? Alack, alack, what blood is this, which stains What mean thefe mafterlefs and goary fwords, The lady ftirs. Jul. [awaking.] Oh comfortable Friar, where is my I do remember well, where I should be ; Fri. I hear some noife! Lady, come from that. neft Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep; A greater Power, than we can contradict, Hath thwarted our intents; come, come away; And Paris too-Come, I'll difpofe of thee Among a fifterhood of holy Nuns : Stay not to queftion, for the watch is coming. Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer ftay. [Exit. Jul. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away. What's here? a cup, clos'd in my true love's hand? E:5 Poifon, Poifon, I fee, hath been his timeless end. Thy lips are warm. Enter Boy and Watch. Watch. Lead, boy. Which way?! Jul. Yea, noife? Then I'll be brief. O happy dagger ! [Finding a dagger. This is thy fheath, there ruft and let me die. [Kills berfelf. Boy. This is the place; there, where the torch doth burn. Watch. The ground is bloody. Search about the church-yard; Go, fome of you, whom e'er you find, attach We fee the Ground whereon thefe Woes do lie : Enter fome of the Watch, with Balthafar. 2 Watch. Here's Romeo's man, we found him in the church-yard. I Watch. Hold him in fafety, 'till the Prince comes hither. (7) Raife up the Montagues. Sme others; fearch] Here feems to be a rhyme intended, which may be easily restored; Raife up the Montagues. Some others, go; Enter |