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Part 20

Cf. Coleridge: "The character of the Nurse is the nearest of anything in Shakspeare to a direct borrowing from mere observation; and the reason is, that as in infancy and childhood the individual in nature is a representative of a class--just as in describing one larch-tree, you generalize a grove of them--so it is nearly as much so in old age. The generalization is done to the poet's hand. Here you have the garrulity of age strengthened by the feelings of a long-trusted servant, whose sympathy with the mother's affections gives her privileges and rank in the household; and observe the mode of connection by accidents of time and place, and the childlike fondness of repetition in a second childhood, and also that happy, humble ducking under, yet constant resurgence against, the check of her superiors!"

Maidenhead. Etymologically the same word as maidenhood. So lustihead = lustihood, livelihead = livelihood (as in Spenser, F.Q. ii. 2. 2: "for porcion of thy livelyhed"), etc. Cf. Godhead, etc.
God forbid! Staunton suggests that the Nurse uses lady-bird as a term of endearment; but, recollecting its application to a woman of loose life, checks herself--God forbid her darling should prove such a one! Dyce explains it: "God forbid that any accident should keep her away!" This seems to me more probable.
Give leave awhile. Leave us alone; a courteous form of dismissal. Cf. T.G. of V. iii. 1. 1: "Sir Thurio, give us leave, I pray, awhile;" M.W. ii. 2. 165: "Give us leave, drawer," etc.
I have remember'd me. For the reflexive use, cf. 1 Hen. IV. ii.
468: "and now I remember me, his name is Falstaff," etc.

Thou's. Cf. Lear, iv. 6. 246. The early eds. have "thou 'se"; most modern ones substitute "thou shalt."

Lay. Wager. Cf. L. L. L. i. 1. 310, T. and C. iii. 1. 95, etc.
Teen. Sorrow; used here for the play on fourteen. Cf. V. and A. 808: "My face is full of shame, my heart of teen;" Temp. i. 2. 64: "the teen I have turn'd you to;" L. L. L. iv. 3. 164: "Of sighs and groans, of sorrow and of teen," etc.
Lammas-tide. The 1st of August. Tide = time, as in even-tide, springtide, etc. Cf. K. John, iii. 1. 86:--

"What hath this day deserv'd? what hath it done, That it in golden letters should be set Among the high tides in the calendar?"

See also the play upon the word in T. of A. i. 2. 57: "Flow this way! A brave fellow! he keeps his tides well."

The earthquake. Tyrwhitt suggested that this may refer to the earthquake felt in England on the 6th of April, 1580. Malone notes that if the earthquake happened on the day when Juliet was weaned (presumably when she was a year old), she could not well be more than twelve years old now; but the Nurse makes her almost fourteen--as her father (i. 2. 9) and her mother (i. 3. 12) also do.
Wormwood. Halliwell-Phillipps cites Cawdray, Treasurie or Storehouse of Similies, 1600: "if the mother put worme-wood or mustard upon the breast, the child sucking it, and feeling the bitternesse, he quite forsaketh it, without sucking any more," etc.
Sitting in the sun, etc. Cf. Dame Quickly's circumstantial reminiscences, 2 Hen. IV. ii. 1. 93 fol.: "Thou didst swear to me," etc.
Bear a brain. Have a brain, that is, a good memory.
Pretty fool. On fool as a term of endearment or pity, cf. A.Y.L. ii. 1. 22, Lear, v. 2. 308, etc.
Tetchy. Touchy, fretful. Cf. Rich. III. iv. 4. 168: "Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy."
Shake, quoth the dove-house. The dove-house shook. It refers of course to the effects of the earthquake. Daniel (in Dowden's ed.) quotes Peele, Old Wives' Tale: "Bounce, quoth the guns;" and Heywood, Fair Maid of the West: "Rouse, quoth the ship."
By the rood. That is, by the cross; as in Ham. iii. 4. 14, Rich. III. iii. 2. 77, etc. For alone the 1st and 2d quartos have "high-lone," which Herford, Dowden, and some others adopt. "It is an alteration of alone, of obscure origin" (New Eng. Dict.) found in Marston, Middleton, and other writers of the time. In George Washington's Diary (1760) it is used of mares. According to the description here, Juliet could not have been much more than a year old at the time. See on 23 above.
Mark. Appoint, elect. Cf. T.A. i. 1. 125: "To this your son is mark'd, and die he must."
To see thee married once. Once see thee married.
Much upon these years. Nearly at the same age. Cf. M. for M. iv.
17: "much upon this time;" Rich. III. v. 3. 70: "Much about cock-shut time," etc. As Juliet is fourteen, Lady Capulet would be about twenty-eight, while her husband, having done masking for some thirty years (see i. 5. 35 fol.), must be at least sixty. See also on v. 3. 207 below.
A man of wax. "As pretty as if he had been modelled in wax" (Schmidt). Steevens quotes Wily Beguiled: "Why, he's a man as one should picture him in wax." White adds from Lyly, Euphues and his England: "so exquisite that for shape he must be framed in wax," and refers to iii. 3. 126 below. Dyce cites Faire Em:--

"A sweet face, an exceeding daintie hand: A body, were it framed of wax By all the cunning artists of the world, It could not better be proportioned."

Read o'er the volume, etc. Here one quibble leads to another by the power of association. "The volume of young Paris's face suggests the beauty's pen, which hath writ there. Then the obscurities of the fair volume are written in the margin of his eyes as comments of ancient books are always printed in the margin. Lastly, this book of love lacks a cover; the golden story must be locked with golden clasps" (Knight).
Married. The reading of 2d quarto; the other early eds. have "severall," which some editors adopt. Married = "closely joined, and hence concordant, harmonious" (Schmidt). Cf. T. and C. i. 3. 100: "The unity and married calm of states;" and Sonn. 8. 6:--

"If the true concord of well-tuned sounds, By unions married, do offend thine ear."

See also Milton, L'All. 137: "Married to immortal verse."

Margent. Malone quotes R. of L. 102:--

"But she that never cop'd with stranger eyes Could pick no meaning from their parting looks, Nor read the subtle shining secrecies Writ in the glassy margent of such books."

See also Ham. v. 2. 162.

Cover. "A quibble on the law phrase for a married woman, who is styled a femme couverte [feme covert] in law French" (Mason).
Lives in the sea. Is not yet caught. The bride has not yet been won. Farmer thought it an allusion to fish-skin as used for binding books.
Many's. Cf. Sonn. 93. 7: "In many's looks," etc.
Like of. Cf. Much Ado, v. 4. 59: "I am your husband, if you like of me."
Endart. Not elsewhere used by S. and perhaps of his own coining.
Cursed. Because she is not at hand to help. In extremity = at a desperate pass. Cf. M.N.D. iii. 2. 3, A.Y.L. iv. 1. 5, etc.
County. Count; as often in this play. See also M. of V. i. 2. 49, A.W. iii. 7. 22, etc.

SCENE IV.--Mercutio is thus described in Brooke's poem:--

"At thone syde of her chayre, her lover Romeo: And on the other side there sat one cald Mercutio. A courtier that eche where was highly had in pryce: For he was coorteous of his speche, and pleasant of devise. Euen as a Lyon would emong the lambes be bolde: Such was emong the bashfull maydes, Mercutio to beholde. With frendly gripe he ceasd [seized] fayre Juliets snowish hand: A gyft he had that nature gaue him in his swathing band. That frosen mountayne yse was neuer halfe so cold As were his handes, though nere so neer the fire he dyd them holde."

In Paynter's Palace of Pleasure he is spoken of as "an other Gentleman called Mercutio, which was a courtlyke Gentleman, very well beloued of all men, and by reason of his pleasaunt and curteous behauior was in euery company wel intertayned." His "audacity among Maydens" and his cold hands are also mentioned.

This speech. Furness would read "the speech"; but, as the scene opens in the midst of the conversation, S. may have meant to imply that some one in the company has suggested an introductory speech. See the following note.
The date is out, etc. That is, such tediousness is now out of fashion. Steevens remarks: "In Henry VIII. where the king introduces himself to the entertainment given by Wolsey [i. 4] he appears, like Romeo and his companions, in a mask, and sends a messenger before to make an apology for his intrusion. This was a custom observed by those who came uninvited, with a desire to conceal themselves for the sake of intrigue, or to enjoy the greater freedom of conversation. Their entry on these occasions was always prefaced by some speech in praise of the beauty of the ladies or the generosity of the entertainer; and to the prolixity of such introductions I believe Romeo is made to allude. So in Histrio-mastix, 1610, a man expresses his wonder that the maskers enter without any compliment: 'What, come they in so blunt, without device?' In the accounts of many entertainments given in reigns antecedent to that of Elizabeth, I find this custom preserved. Of the same kind of masquerading see a specimen in T. of A. [i. 2], where Cupid precedes a troop of ladies with a speech." Collier compares L. L. L. v. 2. 158 fol.
Bow of lath. The Tartar bows resembled in form the old Roman or Cupid's bow, such as we see on medals and bas-reliefs; while the English bow had the shape of the segment of a circle.
Crow-keeper. Originally a boy stationed in a field to drive the birds away (as in Lear, iv. 6. 88: "That fellow handles his bow like a crow-keeper"); afterwards applied, as here, to what we call a scarecrow. The latter was often a stuffed figure with a bow in his hand.

7, 8. These lines are found only in the 1st quarto, and were first inserted in the text by Pope. White believes that they were purposely omitted, but only on account of their disparagement of the prologue-speakers on the stage. Prologues and epilogues were often prepared, not by the author of the play, but by some other person; and this was probably the case with some of the prologues and epilogues in S. Faintly = "in a weak mechanical way" (Ulrici). Entrance is a trisyllable, as in Macb. i. 5. 40.

A measure. A formal courtly dance. Cf. Much Ado, ii. 1. 80: "as a measure, full of state and ancientry;" and for the play on the word, Id. ii. 1. 74, L. L. L. iv. 3. 384, and Rich. II. iii. 4. 7.
A torch. Maskers were regularly attended by torch-bearers. The commentators quote illustrations of this from other authors, but do not refer to M. of V. ii. 4. 5: "We have not spoke us yet of torch-bearers;" and 21 just below:--

"Will you prepare you for this masque to-night? I am provided of a torch-bearre."

See also Id. ii. 6. 40 fol. For the contemptuous use of ambling, see Ham. iii. 1. 151, 1 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 60, etc.

The light. For the poet's frequent playing on the different senses of light, see on i. 1. 134 above. Cf. ii. 2. 105 below.
Soul. For the play on the word, cf. M. of V. ii. 4. 68, iv. 1. 123, and, J.C. i. 1. 15.
Enpierced. Used by S. nowhere else.
Bound. For the quibble, Steevens compares Milton, P.L. iv. 180:--

"in contempt At one slight bound high overleap'd all bound Of hill or highest wall," etc.

Give me a case. Perhaps Mercutio thinks he will wear a mask, and then changes his mind. Littledale suggests pointing "visage in!" It is possible, however, that lines 30-32 refer to a mask that is handed to him, and which he decides to wear, though it is an ugly one. On the whole, I prefer this explanation.
Quote. Note, observe. Cf. Ham. ii. 1. 112:--

Part 20

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