Arife, fair fun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already fick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than fhe:
+ Be not her maid, fince fhe is envious;
Her veftal livery is but fick and green,

And none but fools do wear it; caft it off.
"It is my lady; O, it is my love:

O, that the knew fhe were!

She fpeaks, yet the fays nothing; What of that?
Her eye difcourfes, I will anfwer it.--

I am too bold, 'tis not to me it speaks:
Two of the faireft ftars in all the heaven,
Having fome bufinefs, do intreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres 'till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As day-light doth a lamp; her eye in heaven.
Would through the airy region ftream fo bright,
That birds would fing, and think it were not night.,
See, how the leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek?!

ful. Ay me!

Rom. She fpeaks :

"He (that perfon) jefts, is merely an allufion to his hav ing conceived himself fo armed with the love of Rofalind, that no other beauty could make any impreffion on him. This is clear from the converfation he has with Mercutio, just before they go to Capulet's. REMARKS.

4 Be not her maid,] Be not a votary to the moon, to Diana. JOHNSON.

5 It is my lady;] This line and half I have replaced. JOHNSON. 60 that I were a glove won that hand,] This paffage appearsto have been ridiculed by Shirley in The School of Compliments, a comedy, 1037:

"Oh that I were a flea upon that lip," &c. STEEVENS. 7-touch that cheek!] The quarto, 1597, reads; "kifs that cheek." STEEVENS.

O, speak

O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
As is a winged meffenger of heaven

Unto the white-upturned wond'ring eyes
Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him,
When he beftrides the lazy-pacing clouds,
And fails upon the bofom of the air.

Jul. O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father, and refuse thy name :

Or, if thou wilt not, be but fworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

Rom. Shall I hear more, or fhall I fpeak at this?

Jul. "Tis but thy name, that is my enemy; Thou art thyfelf, though not a Montague.

8 Ob, fpeak again, bright angel! for thou art

[Afide.

What's

As glorious to this night,] Though all the printed copies concur in this reading, yet the latter part of the fimile feems to require,

As glorious to this fight;

and therefore I have ventured to alter the text fo.. THEOBALD. I have restored the old reading, for furely the change was unneceffary. The plain fenfe is, that juliet appeared as fplendid an object in the vault of heaven obfcured by darkness, as an angel could feem to the eyes of mortals, who were falling back to gaze upon him. .

As glorious to this night, means as glorious an appearance in this dark night, &c. It fhould be obferved, however, that the fimile agrees precifely with Theobald's alteration, and not fo well. with the old reading. STEEVENS.

9 the lazy-pacing clouds,] Thus corrected from the first edition, in the other lay pufing. POPE.

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.] i. e. you would be just what you are, although you were not of the House of Montague. WARBURTON.

I think the true reading is,

Thou art thyfelf, then not a Montague.

Thou art a being of peculiar excellence, and haft none of the malignity of the family from which thou haft thy name.Hanmer reads:

Thou're not thyself so, though a Montague. JOHNSON.

!

What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part:
What's in a name? that which we call a rofe,
By any other name would finell as fweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes,

This line is wanting in the elder quarto; all the other editions concur in one reading. I think the paffage will support Dr. Johnson's fenfe without his propofed alteration. Thou art thyfelf (i. e. a being of distinguished excellence) though thou art not what thou appeareft to others, akin to thy family in malice. STEVENS.

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.] A flight change of punctuation would give an eafy fense:

Thou art thy felf, though; not a Montague. So, in The Midfummer Night's Dream, act iii. fc. lasft: My legs are longer though, to run away." Other writers frequently ufe though for however. Fatal Dowry, a tragedy, by Maffinger, 1632:

So, in The

"Would you have him your hufband that you love,
"And can it not be ?-He is your fervant, though,
"And may perform the office of a husband."

Again, in Otway's Venice Preferved:

"I thank thee for thy labour, though, and him too."

MALONE. There is certainly fome obfcurity in this paffage, which might poffibly be removed by reading

Thou art thyfelf, though yet a Montague. Or thus:

Thou art thyfelf, although a Montague.

At least Juliet's meaning feems to be, that though he was a Montague by name, and therefore her enemy, yet, for his perfon and mind, i. e as a man, fhe might fill be allowed to love him. The following lines are in the folio thus:

What's Montague? it is nor hand nor foot,
Nor arm, nor tace, O be fome other name
Belonging to a man.

What's in a name, &c.

and fhould, perhaps, be thus regulated:

What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, (nor any other part)

Belonging to a man. O be fome other name.

What's in a name, &c.

The words, nor any other part, which are in the quarto editions, feem to have been omitted in the folio by inadvertency.

REMARKS
Without

Without that title:-Romeo, doff thy name; And for that name, which is no part of thee, 2 Take all myself.

Rom. I take thee at thy word:

Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

Jul. What man art thou, that, thus befcreen'd în.
night,

So ftumbleft on my counsel?

Rom. By a name

I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear faint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee;

Had I it written, I would tear the word.

Jul. My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words Of that tongue's uttering, yet I know the found; Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?

Rom. Neither, fair faint, if either thee dislike. ful. How cam'ft thou hither, tell me? and wherefore?

The orchard-walls are high, and hard to climb;
And the place death, confidering who thou art,
If any of my kinfmen find thee here.

Rom. With love's light wings did I o'er-perch thefe walls :

For ftony limits cannot hold love out:

And

2 Take all myself.] The elder quarto reads, Take all I have.

STEEVENS.

3 My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words Of that tongue's uttering.-] We meet with almost the fame words in King Edward III. a tragedy, 1596:

'

"I might perceive his eye in her eye loft,

"His ear to drink her fweet tongue's utterance."

MALONE.

4 With love's light wings did I o'erperch thefe walls ;] Here alfo we find Shakspeare following the steps of the author of The Hyftory of Romeus and Juliet, 1562:

66 Approaching near the place from whence his heart had life.

"Se

And what love can do, that dares love attempt;
Therefore thy kinfmen are no ftop to me.

Jul. If they do fee thee, they will murder thee. Rom. Alack! there lies more peril in thine eye, Than twenty of their fwords; look thou but fweet, And I am proof against their enmity.

ful. I would not for the world, they faw thee here. Rom. I have night's cloak to hide me from their fight;

And, but thou love me, let them find me here;
My life were better ended by their hate,
Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.

Jul. By whofe direction found't thou out this place? Rom. By love, who first did prompt me to enquire; He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes.

I am no pilot; yet, wért thou as far

As that vaft fhore wafh'd with the fartheft fea,
I would adventure for fuch merchandise.

Jul. Thou know'ft the mafk of night is on my face;

Elfe would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek,
For that which thou haft heard me fpeak to-night.
Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain deny
What I have spoke ; But farewel compliment!
Doft thou love me? I know, thou wilt fay-Ay;
And I will take thy word: yet, if thou fwear'ft,
Thou may'ft prove falfe; at lovers' perjuries,
They fay, Jove laughs. O, gentle Romeo,

"So light he wox, he leap'd the wall, and there he
fpy'd his wife,

"Who in the window watch'd the coming of her
lord-
MALONE.

22

3. there lies more perilin thine eye,

Than twenty of their words ;]

Beaumont and Fletcher have copied this thought in The Maid in the Mill:

"The lady may command, fir;

"She bears an eye more dreadful than your weapon."

8

STEEVENS.

If