NOTES.

Note I.

I. 1. There is no division into Acts and Scenes in the Quartos, nor any trace of division in the Folios, except the 'Actus Primus, Scæna Prima' at the beginning of the play.

We wish to remind our readers that the symbol Qq signifies the agreement of the second, third, fourth, and fifth Quartos.

Note II.

I. 2. 116. The first Quarto here has 'thrall,' the others 'debt,' which though it makes a rhyme does not improve the sense. The next two lines are not in the first Quarto. As, unlike the immediate context, they also rhyme, while they are not particularly forcible, we incline to think that some other hand than Shakespeare's inserted them.

Note III.

II. 1. 13. Pope was the first commentator who called attention to the ballad which is alluded to in this passage, and it is remarkable that with all his partiality for the first Quarto he did not adopt the reading 'trim,' found both there and in the ballad. Percy, in a note to the ballad printed in his Reliques, conjectured that Shakespeare had written 'trim,' not 'true,' apparently without knowing that the word was found in the first Quarto. Capell, in his note, says that he had retained 'true' in his text, owing to his not having observed the authority for the other reading.

[Pg 137]

Note IV.

II. 2. As there is no indication given in the Quartos and Folios of Romeo's entrance here, it is not impossible that in the old arrangement of the scene the wall was represented as dividing the stage, so that the audience could see Romeo on one side and Mercutio on the other. If this were the case it would tend to justify Capell's arrangement of Hen. VIII. v. 2, though in the present instance he makes no allusion to it. It is clear from the first line of Romeo's speech that he overhears what Mercutio says, and though we have not altered the usual arrangement, we cannot but feel that there is an awkwardness in thus separating the two lines of a rhyming couplet.

Note V.

II. 2. 152. Malone erroneously attributes the reading 'suit' to the Quarto of 1597. The words, 'To cease thy suit,' are found in Brooke's Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Iuliet, p. 21 of the reprint in Mr Collier's Shakespeare's Library.

Note VI.

II. 2. 184-II. 3. 5. This passage was printed substantially right in the Quarto of 1597. The Quarto of 1599 inserted after the first line of Romeo's speech the first four of the Friar's, repeating them in their proper place. In Juliet's speech, the same edition by printing one line as two, and mistaking the stage directions gave rise to a further corruption in the Quarto of 1609.

In Q₂ (1599) the passage stands:

Exit.

[Pg 138]

Enter Frier alone with a basket.

In Q₃(1609) we read:

For the rest Q₃ follows Q₂ without any material variation, except that it reads 'fleckeld' for 'fleckted,' in the eighth line.

The fourth Quarto, undated, has ejected the intruding lines and distributed the dialogue right. One error alone remains, viz. that 'Good night, good night ... sorrow' is divided still into two lines. The fifth Quarto follows the fourth.

The first Folio follows the third Quarto as usual without any variation of importance.

The second Folio, followed by the third and fourth, inserts, 'Exit' after the word 'breast,' adopts the reading of the first down to the end of Romeo's speech, and makes the Friar's begin at line 5, thus:

Pope restored the true arrangement. In the fourth line of the Friar's speech he introduced 'pathway made by Titan's wheels' from the passage as first given in Q₂ Q₃ F₁.

Note VII.

II. 5. 15, 16. The second Quarto reads here:

And this is followed with slight variations of spelling by the third.

The fourth and fifth omit the M., as do the Folios, which give the passage thus:

[Pg 139]

Pope omits the lines 'But old folks ... lead,' thinking probably that they are due to interpolation, a supposition which the unmeaning 'M.' in the earlier Quartos seems to confirm.

Mr Collier's MS. corrector has (Shakespeare, Ed. 2, Note ad loc.):

This is not mentioned in his Notes and Emendations.

For 'many' Johnson substitutes 'marry;'

Note VIII.

III. 3. 38-46. Instead of the lines which he put in the margin, Pope inserted the following, copied with some alterations from the first Quarto:

Note IX.

III. 3. 40-43. The Quarto of 1599 reads as follows:

The same order is followed in the subsequent Quartos. The reading of the first Quarto will be seen in the reprint which follows the play. The first Folio gives:

This reading is followed by the other Folios, Rowe, Theobald, Warburton, and Johnson. Hanmer follows Pope in his text (see Note VIII), omitting altogether the lines which Pope put in the margin.

[Pg 140]

Capell has:

Steevens (1773) reads:

In his note on the passage, in the edition of 1778, he conjectured that the line 'But Romeo ... banished' should be inserted after 'their own kisses sin;' an arrangement which was adopted by Malone and by Steevens himself in his edition of 1793. Capell suggests that the lines he retains 'were second thoughts of the poet, and their original was meant for expunction.' This may possibly be true, but we have adopted the reading given in our text because it retains, without manifest absurdity, lines which are all undoubtedly Shakespeare's. For a similar instance see Note XVIII. on Love's Labour's Lost.

In IV. I. III, of the present play we have omitted a line which occurs in all the Quartos, except the first, and all the Folios, because it could not be retained without absolute detriment to the sense.

Note X.

III. 5. 82-104. Instead of this passage Pope, printing, as he says, 'more agreeably to the first edition,' gave as follows:

'La. Cap. Content thee girl. If I could find a man, I soon would send to Mantua where he is, And give him such an unaccustom'd dram That he should soon keep Tybalt company.

Jul. Find you the means, and I'll find such a man, For while he lives, my heart shall ne'er be light 'Till I behold him—dead—is my poor heart, Thus for a kinsman vext?

La. Cap. Well, let that pass. I come to bring thee joyful tidings, girl.'

In this arbitrary change, he is followed, as usual, by Hanmer, except that the latter puts a full stop at 'vext.'

Note XI.

IV. 3. 58. Mr Dyce conjectured that 'here's drink' was the corruption of a stage direction, 'here drink.'

[Pg 141]

Note XII.

IV. 5. 36. Although 'see' was doubtless a conjectural insertion of the editor of the second Folio in order to complete the metre, like his addition of 'now' in the next line, yet, as the word occurs in the corresponding passage of the first Quarto, we have decided on the whole to retain it.

Note XIII.

IV. 5. 65-83. Instead of this speech Pope has the following:

The last three lines are verbatim from the Quarto of 1597. Hanmer follows Pope, with a different arrangement in the first lines, which he prints thus:

Note XIV.

V. 3. 13-17. Instead of these five lines Pope inserts the four following, from the first Quarto:

For lines 12-17 Steevens (1773) substituted the corresponding lines of the first Quarto, except that he follows Pope in reading 'hand' for 'hands.'

[Pg 142]

Note XV.

V. 3. 108. The quarto of 1599 here reads:

The third Quarto has the same reading, putting a semi-colon after 'againe' in the fifth line, and is followed by the first Folio, except that 'armes' is substituted for 'arme' in the first line. The later Folios make no material change. The reading in our text is substantially that of the fourth and fifth Quartos. Rowe follows the Folios, and Pope prints:

Note XVI.

Mr Lionel Booth has been kind enough to furnish us with the following variations which he has found in different copies of the first Folio:

[Pg 143]

AN

EXCELLENT

CONCEITED TRAGEDIE

OF

ROMEO AND IULIET.

[Pg 144]

---