Rom. Good-morrow to you both. What counterfeit did I give you? 8 Mer. The slip, sir, the slip ; can you not conceive? Rom. 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. Rom. Meaning-to court'sy. Mer. Thou hast most kindly hit it. Rom. A most courteous exposition. Mer. Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy. Mer. Right. Rom. Why, then is my pump well flowered. 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, sole singular. Rom. O single-soled jest, solely singular for the singleness! Mer. Come between us, good Benvolio; my wits faint. Rom. Switch and spurs, switch and spurs ; or I'll cry a match. Mer. Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I have done; for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits, than, I am sure, I have in my whole five. Was I with you there for the goose? Rom. Thou wast never with me for anything, when thou wast not there for the goose. Mer. I will bite thee by the ear for that jest. Rom. Nay, good goose, bite not. Mer. Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting; it is a most sharp sauce. Rom. And is it not well served in to a sweet goose? Mer. O, here's a wit of cheveril, that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad! Rom. I stretch it out for that word-broad: which added to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose. 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. Ben. Stop there, stop there. Mer. O, I was come to the whole depth of my tale; and meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer. Enter Nurse and PETER. Rom. Here's goodly gear! Mer. A sail, a sail, a sail! Ben. Two, two; a shirt, and a smock. Nurse. Peter! Peter. Anon? Nurse. My fan, Peter. Mer. Good Peter, to hide her face; for her fan's the fairer face. Nurse. Good-morrow, gentlemen. Mer. Good den, fair gentlewoman. Nurse. Is it good den? Mer. 'Tis no less, I tell you; for the hand of the dial is now upon noon. Nurse. Out upon you! what a man are you? Rom. One, gentlewoman, 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? Rom. 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. So ho! Rom. 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. Romeo, will you come to your father's? we 'll to dinner thither. Rom. I will follow you. Mer. Farewell, ancient lady; farewell [Singing], 'Lady, 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 ? Rom. 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 anything 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 flirt-gills; I am none of his skains-mates.10——And thou must stand by too, and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure? Pet. 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. if ye Nurse. 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, should lead her into a fool's paradise, as they say, it were a very gross kind of behaviour, as they say: for the gentlewoman is young; and, therefore, if you should deal double with her, truly it were an ill thing to be offered to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing. Rom. Nurse, commend me to thy lady and mistress. I protest unto thee Nurse. Good heart! and, i' faith, I will tell her as much: she will be a joyful woman. Rom. What wilt thou tell her, nurse? thou dost not mark me. Nurse. I will tell her, sir-that you do protest; which, as I take it, is a gentlemanlike offer. Rom. Bid her devise some means to come to shrift This afternoon; And there she shall at Friar Laurence' cell Be shriv'd, and married. Here is for thy pains. Rom. Go to; I say, you shall. Nurse. This afternoon, sir? well, she shall be there. Nurse. Now, heaven bless thee !-Hark you, sir. Nurse. Is your man secret? Did you ne'er hear say Rom. I warrant thee, my man's as true as steel. Nurse. Well, sir; my mistress is the sweetest lady !—When 'twas a little prating thing-O, there's a nobleman in town, one Paris; but she, good soul, had as lief see a toad, a very toad, as see him. I anger her sometimes, and tell her that Paris is the properer man: but I'll warrant you, when I say so, she looks as pale as any clout in the varsal world. Doth not rosemary and Romeo begin both with a letter? Rom. Ay, nurse; what of that? both with an R. Nurse. Ah, mocker! that's the dog's name. R is for the dog.11 No; I know it begins with some other letter: and she hath the prettiest sententious of it, of you and rosemary, that it would do you good to hear it. Rom. Commend me to thy lady. [Exit ROMEO. Nurse. Ay, a thousand times.-Peter! Pet. Anon? Nurse. Peter, take my fan, and go before. D [Exeunt. SCENE V.-CAPULET'S Garden. Enter JULIET. Jul. The clock struck nine when I did send the nurse; Perchance, she cannot meet him :-that's not so.- My words would bandy her to my sweet love, But old folks, many feign as they were dead; Enter Nurse and PETER. O, 'now' she comes !-O honey nurse, what news? If good, thou sham'st the music of sweet news By playing it to me with so sour a face. Nurse. I am aweary, give me leave a while; Fie, how my bones ache! what a jaunt have I had! Do you not see that I am out of breath? |