Mer. Without his roe, like a dried herring. O flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified! Now is he for the numbers that Petrarch flowed in: Laura, to his lady, was but a kitchen-wench;-marry, she had a better love to berhyme her: Dido, a dowdy; Cleopatra, a gipsy; Helen and Hero, hildings 1 and harlots; Thisbe, a gray eye or so, but not to the purpose. Signior Romeo, bon jour! there's a French salutation to your French slop. us the counterfeit fairly last night. You gave Ro. Good morrow to you both.-What counterfeit did I give you? Mer. The slip, sir, the slip: ceive? can you not con Ro. Pardon, good Mercutio; my business was great; and, in such a case as mine, a man may strain courtesy. Mer. That's as much as to say, such a case as yours constrains a man to bow in the hams. Ro. Meaning to courtesy. Mer. Thou hast most kindly hit it. Ro. A most courteous exposition. Mer. Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy. Ro. Pink for flower. Mer. Right. Ro. Why, then is my pump well flowered.1 Mean women. 2 Loose trowsers, a French fashion in Shakspeare's time. 3 In allusion to a counterfeit piece of money called a slip. 4 It was the custom to wear ribands in the shoes, in the shape of roses or other flowers. Mer. Well said: follow me this jest now, till thou hast worn out thy pump; that, when the single sole of it is worn, the jest may remain, after the wearing, solely singular. Ro. O single-soled 1 jest, solely singular for the singleness! Mer. Come between us, good Benvolio; my wits fail. Ro. Switch and spurs, switch and spurs; or I'll cry a match. Mer. Nay, if thy wits run the wildgoose chase, I have done; for thou hast more of the wildgoose in one of thy wits, than, I am sure, I have in my whole five. Was I with you there for the goose? Ro. Thou wast never with me for any thing, when thou wast not there for the goose. Mer. I will bite thee by the ear for that jest. 2 Mer. Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting; it is a most sharp sauce. Ro. And is it not well served in to a sweet goose? Mer. O, here's a wit of cheveril,3 that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad! Ro. I stretch it out for that word, broad; which, added to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose. 1 Slight, contemptible. Kid-skin, i. e. soft, stretching. 2 An apple of that name. Mer. Why, is not this better now than groaning for love? now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature for this drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole. Ben. Stop there, stop there. Mer. Thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair. Ben. Thou wouldst else have made thy tale large. Mer. O, thou art deceived; I would have made it short: for I was come to the whole depth of my tale; and meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer. Ro. Here's goodly geer!1 Enter NURSE and PETER. Mer. A sail, a sail, a sail! Ben. Two, two; a shirt and a smock. Nurse. Peter! Peter. Anon? Nurse. My fan, Peter. Mer. Pr'ythee, do, good Peter, to hide her face for her fan 's the fairer of the two. Nurse. God ye good morrow, gentlemen. Mer. Tis no less, I tell you; for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon. Nurse. Out upon you! what a man are you! Ro. One, gentlewoman, that God hath made himself to mar. Nurse. By my troth, it is well said;-for himself to mar, quoth 'a ?—Gentlemen, can any of you tell me where I may find the young Romeo? Ro. I can tell you; but young Romeo will be older when you have found him than he was when you sought him: I am the youngest of that name, for fault of a worse. Nurse. You say well. Mer. Yea, is the worst well? very well took, i' faith; wisely, wisely. Nurse. If you be he, sir, I desire some confidence with you. Ben. She will indite him to some supper. Mer. A bawd, a bawd, a bawd! So ho! Ro. What hast thou found? Mer. No hare, sir; unless a hare, sir, in a lenten pie, that is something stale and hoar ere it be spent. 'An old hare hoar, And an old hare hoar, Is very good meat in Lent: But a hare that is hoar, Is too much for a score, When it hoars ere it be spent. Romeo, will you come to your father's? we'll to dinner thither. Ro. I will follow you. lady. Mer. Farewell, ancient lady; farewell, lady, lady, [Exeunt Mercutio and Benvolio. Nurse. Marry, farewell!-I pray you, sir, what saucy merchant was this, that was so full of his ropery ? 2 Ro. A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himself talk; and will speak more in a minute than he will stand to in a month. Nurse. An 'a speak any thing against me, I'll take him down an 'a were lustier than he is, and twenty such Jacks; and if I cannot, I'll find those that shall. Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirtgills; I am none of his skains-mates.3-And thou must stand by too, and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure? Peter. I saw no man use you at his pleasure; if I had, my weapon should quickly have been out, I warrant you. I dare draw as soon as another man, if I see occasion in a good quarrel, and the law on my side. Nurse. Now, afore God, I am so vexed, that every part about me quivers. Scurvy knave! Pray you, sir, a word: and as I told you, my young lady bade me inquire you out: what she bade me say, I will keep to myself; but first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her into a fool's paradise, as they say, it 1 A term of disrespect, in contradistinction to gentleman. 2 Roguery. 3 Cut-throat companions. A skain signifies a short sword. |