Romeo and Juliet, page 19
[Exeunt some of the Watch.]
Pitiful sight! Here lies the County slain;
And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead,
Who here hath lain this two days buried.
Go, tell the Prince; run to the Capulets;
Raise up the Montagues; some others search.
[Exeunt others of the Watch.]
We see the ground whereon these woes do lie,
But the true grounddeg of all these piteous woes
We cannot without circumstancedeg descry.
Enter [some of the Watch, with] Romeo's Man
[Balthasar].
Second Watchman. Here's Romeo's man. We found
him in the churchyard.
162 timeless untimely 163 churl rude fellow 169 happy opportune 180 ground cause 181 circumstance details
Chief Watchman. Hold him in safety till the Prince
come hither.
Enter Friar [Lawrence] and another Watchman.
Third Watchman. Here is a friar that trembles, sighs,
and weeps.
We took this mattock and this spade from him
As he was coming from this churchyard's side.
Chief Watchman. A great suspicion! Stay the friar too.
Enter the Prince [and Attendants].
Prince. What misadventure is so early up,
That calls our person from our morning rest?
Enter Capulet and his Wife [with others].
Capulet. What should it be, that is so shrieked abroad?
Lady Capulet. O, the people in the street cry "Romeo,"
Some "Juliet," and some "Paris"; and all run
With open outcry toward our monument.
Prince. What fear is this which startles in your ears?
Chief Watchman. Sovereign, here lies the County Paris
slain;
And Romeo dead; and Juliet, dead before,
Warm and new killed.
Prince. Search, seek, and know how this foul murder
comes.
Chief Watchman. Here is a friar, and slaughtered
Romeo's man,
With instruments upon them fit to open
These dead men's tombs.
Capulet. O heavens! O wife, look how our daughter
bleeds!
This dagger hath mista'en, for, lo, his housedeg
Is empty on the back of Montague,
And it missheathed in my daughter's bosom!
203 his house its sheath
Lady Capulet. O me, this sight of death is as a bell
That warns my old age to a sepulcher.
Enter Montague [and others].
Prince. Come, Montague; for thou art early up
To see thy son and heir more early down.
Montague. Alas, my liege, my wife is dead tonight!
Grief of my son's exile hath stopped her breath.
What further woe conspires against mine age?
Prince. Look, and thou shalt see.
Montague. O thou untaught! What manners is in this,
To press before thy father to a grave?
Prince. Seal up the mouth of outragedeg for a while,
Till we can clear these ambiguities
And know their spring, their head, their true
descent;
And then will I general of your woesdeg
And lead you even to death. Meantime forbear,
And let mischance be slave to patience.
Bring forth the parties of suspicion.
Friar. I am the greatest, able to do least,
Yet most suspected, as the time and place
Doth make against me, of this direful murder;
And here I stand, both to impeach and purgedeg
Myself condemned and myself excused.
Prince. Then say at once what thou dost know in this.
Friar. I will be brief, for my short date of breathdeg
Is not so long as is a tedious tale.
Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet;
And she, there dead, that's Romeo's faithful wife.
I married them; and their stol'n marriage day
Was Tybalt's doomsday, whose untimely death
Banished the new-made bridegroom from this city;
216 the mouth of outrage these violent cries 219 general of your woes leader in your sorrowing 226 impeach and purge make charges and exonerate 229 date of breath term of life
For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined.
You, to remove that siege of grief from her,
Betrothed and would have married her perforce
To County Paris. Then comes she to me
And with wild looks bid me devise some mean
To rid her from this second marriage,
Or in my cell there would she kill herself.
Then gave I her (so tutored by my art)
A sleeping potion; which so took effect
As I intended, for it wrought on her
The form of death. Meantime I writ to Romeo
That he should hither come asdeg this dire night
To help to take her from her borrowed grave,
Being the time the potion's force should cease.
But he which bore my letter, Friar John,
Was stayed by accident, and yesternight
Returned my letter back. Then all alone
At the prefixed hour of her waking
Came I to take her from her kindred's vault;
Meaning to keep her closelydeg at my cell
Till I conveniently could send to Romeo.
But when I came, some minute ere the time
Of her awakening, here untimely lay
The noble Paris and true Romeo dead.
She wakes; and I entreated her come forth
And bear this work of heaven with patience;
But then a noise did scare me from the tomb,
And she, too desperate, would not go with me,
But, as it seems, did violence on herself.
All this I know, and to the marriage
Her nurse is privy;deg and if aught in this
Miscarried by my fault, let my old life
Be sacrificed some hour before his time
Unto the rigor of severest law.
Prince. We stilldeg have known thee for a holy man.
Where's Romeo's man? What can he say to this?
Balthasar. I brought my master news of Juliet's death; 247 as on 255 closely hidden 266 privy accessory 270 still always
And then in post he came from Mantua
To this same place, to this same monument.
This letter he early bid me give his father,
And threat'ned me with death, going in the vault,
If I departed not and left him there.
Prince. Give me the letter. I will look on it.
Where is the County's page that raised the watch?
Sirrah, what made your masterdeg in this place?
Boy. He came with flowers to strew his lady's grave;
And bid me stand aloof, and so I did.
Anon comes one with light to ope the tomb;
And by and bydeg my master drew on him;
And then I ran away to call the watch.
Prince. This letter doth make good the friar's words,
Their course of love, the tidings of her death;
And here he writes that he did buy a poison
Of a poor apothecary and therewithaldeg
Came to this vault to die and lie with Juliet.
Where be these enemies? Capulet, Montague,
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.
And I, for winking atdeg your discords, too,
Have lost a bracedeg of kinsmen. All are punished.
Capulet. O brother Montague, give me thy hand.
This is my daughter's jointure,deg for no more
Can I demand.
Montague. But I can give thee more;
For I will raise her statue in pure gold,
That whiles Verona by that name is known,
There shall no figure at such ratedeg be set
As that of true and faithful Juliet.
Capulet. As rich shall Romeo's by his lady's lie--
Poor sacrifices of our enmity!
280 made your master was your master doing 284 by and by soon 289 therewithal therewith 294 winking at closing eyes to 295 brace pair (i.e., Mercutio and Paris) 297 jointure marriage settlement 301 rate value
Prince. A gloomingdeg peace this morning with it brings.
The sun for sorrow will not show his head.
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
Some shall be pardoned, and some punished;
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
[Exeunt omnes.]
FINIS
305 glooming cloudy
Textual Note
The First Quarto (Q1) of Romeo and Juliet was printed in 1597 without previous entry in the Stationers' Register. It bore the following title page: "An/ EXCELLENT/ conceited Tragedie/ OF/ Romeo and Iuliet./ As it hath been often (with great applause)/ plaid publiquely, by the right Ho-/ nourable the L. of Hunsdon/ his Seruants./ LONDON,/ Printed by Iohn Danter./ 1597." Until the present century, editors frequently assumed that this text, curtailed and manifestly corrupt, represented an early draft of the play. Most now agree that Q1, like the other "bad" Shakespeare quartos, is a memorial reconstruction; that is, a version which some of the actors (accusing fingers have been pointed at those who played Romeo and Peter) put together from memory and gave to the printer. The Second Quarto (Q2) was printed in 1599 with the following title page: "THE/ MOST/ EX-/ cellent and lamentable Tragedie, of Romeo and Iuliet./ Newly corrected, augmented, and/ amended: As it hath bene sundry times publiquely acted, by the/ right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine/ his Seruants./ London/ Printed by Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, and are to/ be sold at his shop neare the Exchange./ 1599." Apparently Q2 derives directly from the same acting version that is imperfectly reflected in the memorially reconstructed Q1, but it is based on a written script of the play rather than on actors' memories. Q2, however, is the product of careless or hasty printing and does not inspire complete confidence. Lines that the author doubtless had canceled are sometimes printed along with the lines intended to replace them, and occasionally notes about staging appear which are probably the prompter's, or possibly Shakespeare's. Vexing matters like these, together with the fact that some speeches in Q2 are clearly based on Q1 (possibly the manuscript that provided the copy for most of Q2 was illegible in places), have caused editors to make at least limited use of Q1. The other texts of Romeo and Juliet have no claim to authority. The Second Quarto provided the basis for a Third Quarto (1609), which in turn served as copy for an undated Fourth Quarto and for the text in the Folio of 1623. A Fifth Quarto, based on the Fourth, appeared in 1637.
None of these texts--including the Second Quarto, upon which the present edition is based--makes any real division of the play into acts and scenes. (The last third of Q1 does have a rough indication of scene division in the form of strips of ornamental border across the page, and the Folio has at the beginning Actus Primus. Scena Prima, but nothing further.) The division used here, like that in most modern texts, derives from the Globe edition, as do the Dramatis Personae and the various indications of place. Spelling and punctuation have been modernized, a number of stage directions have been added (in square brackets), and speech prefixes have been regularized. This last change will be regretted by those who feel, perhaps rightly, that at least some of the speech prefixes of Q2 show how Shakespeare thought of the character at each moment of the dialogue. Lady Capulet, for example, is variously designated in the speech prefixes of Q2 as Wife, Lady, and sometimes Mother; Capulet is occasionally referred to as Father, and Balthasar as Peter; the First Musician of our text (4.5) is once called Fidler in Q2 and several times Minstrel or Minstrels. Other deviations (apart from obvious typographical errors) from Q2 are listed in the textual notes. There the adopted reading is given first, in italics, followed by a note in square brackets if the source of the reading is Q1; this is followed by the rejected reading in roman. Absence of a note in square brackets indicates that the adopted reading has been taken from some other source and represents guesswork at best. Apparently the editors of F as well as of Q3 and Q4 had no access to any authentic document.
In dealing with the troublesome stage direction at the end of 1.4, I have followed the solution adopted by H. R. Hoppe in his Crofts Classics edition (1947); and I have adopted the reading of "eyes' shot" for the customary "eyes shut" at 3.2.49 from the Pelican edition of John E. Hankins (Penguin, 1960), which presents a good argument for retaining the reading of Q2 with the addition of an apostrophe.
1.1.29 in sense [Q1] sense 34 comes two [Q1] comes 65 swashing washing 123 drave driue 150 his is 156 sun same 182 well-seeming [Q1] welseeing 205 Bid a sick [Q1] A sicke 205 make [Q1] makes 206 Ah [Q1] A
1.2.32 on one 65-73 Signior . . . Helena [prose in Q1 and F] 92 fires fier
1.3.2-76 [Q2 prints Nurse's speeches in prose] 66, 67 honor [Q1] houre 99 make it [Q1] make
1.4.7-8 Nor . . . entrance [added from Q1] 23 Mercutio Horatio 39 done [Q1] dum 42 of this sir-reverence [Q1] or saue you reuerence 45 like lights 47 five fine 53-91 O . . . bodes [verse from Q1; Q2 has prose] 57 atomies ottamie 63 film Philome 66 maid [Q1] man 113 sail [Q1] sute 114 s.d. They . . . and [Q2 combines with s.d. used here at beginning of 1.5]
1.5. s.d. [Q2 adds "Enter Romeo"] 1, 4, 7, 12 First Servingman . . . Second Servingman . . . First Servingman . . . First Servingman [Q2 has "Ser.," "I.," "Ser.," and "Ser."] 97 ready [Q1] did readie 144 What's this? What's this? Whats tis? whats tis
2.1.9 one [Q1] on 10 pronounce [Q1] prouaunt 10 dove [Q1] day 12 heir [Q1] her 38 et cetera [Q1] or
2.2.16 do to 20 eyes eye 45 were wene 83 washed washeth 99 havior [Q1] behauior 101 more cunning [Q1] coying 162 than mine then 167 sweet Neece 186 Romeo [Q1] Iu. 187-88 [between these lines Q2 has "The grey eyde morne smiles on the frowning night, Checkring the Easterne Clouds with streaks of light, And darknesse fleckted like a drunkard reeles, / From forth daies pathway, made by Tytans wheeles," lines nearly identical with those given to the Friar at 2.3.1-4; presumably Shakespeare first wrote the lines for Romeo, then decided to use them in Friar Lawrence's next speech, but neglected to delete the first version, and the printer mistakenly printed it]
2.3.2 Check'ring Checking 3 flecked [Q1] fleckeld 74 ring yet [Q1] yet ringing
2.4.18 Benvolio [Q1] Ro. 30 fantasticoes [Q1] phantacies 215 Ah A
2.5.11 three there
2.6.27 music's musicke
3.1.2 are [Q1; Q2 omits] 91 s.d. Tybalt . . . flies [Q1; Q2 has "Away Tybalt"] 110 soundly too. Your soundly, to your 124 Alive [Q1] He gan 126 eyed [Q1] end 168 agile [Q1] aged 190 hate's [Q1] hearts 194 I It
3.2.51 determine of determine 60 one on 72-73 [Q2 gives line 72 to Juliet, line 73 to Nurse] 76 Dove-feathered Rauenous doue-featherd 79 damned dimme
3.3. s.d. Enter Friar [Q1] Enter Frier and Romeo 40 But . . . banished [in Q2 this line is preceded by one line, "This may flyes do, when I from this must flie," which is substantially the same as line 41, and by line 43, which is probably misplaced] 52 Thou [Q1] Then 61 madmen [Q1] mad man 73 s.d. Knock They knocke 75 s.d. Knock Slud knock 108 s.d. He . . . away [Q1; Q2 omits] 117 lives lies 143 misbehaved mishaued 162 s.d. Nurse . . . again [Q1; Q2 omits] 168 disguised disguise
3.5.13 exhales [Q1] exhale 36 s.d. Enter Nurse [Q1] Enter Madame and Nurse 42 s.d. He goeth down [Q1; Q2 omits] 54 Juliet Ro. 83 pardon him padon 140 gives giue 182 trained [Q1] liand
4.1.7 talked talke 72 slay [Q1] stay 83 chapless chapels 85 his shroud his 98 breath [Q1] breast 100 wanny many 110 In Is 110 [after this line Q2 has "Be borne to buriall in thy kindreds graue"; presumably as soon as Shakespeare wrote these words he decided he could do better, and expressed the gist of the idea in the next two lines, but the canceled line was erroneously printed] 111 shalt shall 116 waking walking
4.3.49 wake walke 58 Romeo, I drink [after "Romeo" Q2 has "heeres drinke," which is probably a stage direction printed in error] 58 s.d. She . . . curtains [Q1; Q2 omits]
4.4.21 faith [Q1] father
4.5.65 cure care 82 fond some 95 s.d. casting . . . curtains [Q1; Q2 omits] 101 by [Q1] my 101 amended amended. Exit omnes 101 s.d. Peter [Q2 has "Will Kemp," the name of the actor playing the role] 128 grief [Q1] griefes 129 And . . . oppress [Q1; Q2 omits] 135, 138 Pretty [Q1] Prates
5.1.11 s.d. booted [detail from Ql] 15 fares my [Q1] doth my Lady 24 e'en [Q1 "euen"] in 24 defy [Q1] denie 50 And An 76 pay [Q1] pray
5.3. s.d. with . . . water [Q1; Q2 omits] 3 yew [Q1] young 21 s.d. and Balthasar . . . iron [Q1; Q2 has "Enter Romeo and Peter," and gives lines 40 and 43 to Peter instead of to Balthasar] 48 s.d. Romeo . . . tomb [Q1; Q2 omits] 68 conjurations [Q1] commiration 71 Page [Q2 omits this speech prefix] 102 fair [Q2 follows with "I will beleeue," presumably words that Shakespeare wrote, then rewrote in the next line, but neglected to delete] 108 again. Here [between these words Q2 has the following material, which Shakespeare apparently neglected to delete: "come lye thou in my arme, / Heer's to thy health, where ere thou tumblest in. O true Appothecarie Thy drugs are quicke. Thus with a kisse I die. / Depart againe"] 137 yew yong 187 too too too 189 s.d. Enter . . . wife [Q2 places after line 201, with "Enter Capels" at line 189] 190 shrieked [Q1] shrike 199 slaughtered Slaughter 209 more early [Q1] now earling
A Note on the Source of Romeo and Juliet
The story of Romeo and Juliet was popular in Elizabethan times, and Shakespeare could have got his working outline of it from a number of places. Belleforest's Histoires Tragiques had a version, as did William Painter's Palace of Pleasure; and there had apparently been a play on the subject. Arthur Brooke, in an address "To the Reader" prefaced to his long narrative poem The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet, mentioned seeing "the same argument lately set foorth on stage"; but there is no evidence that Shakespeare worked from an older play or even that he consulted Belleforest or Painter, though he undoubtedly knew their works. All the evidence indicates that he worked directly from Brooke's poem, which Richard Tottell had printed in 1562 and Robert Robinson had reissued in 1587, shortly before the time that Shakespeare must have begun writing for the London stage.
Pitiful sight! Here lies the County slain;
And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead,
Who here hath lain this two days buried.
Go, tell the Prince; run to the Capulets;
Raise up the Montagues; some others search.
[Exeunt others of the Watch.]
We see the ground whereon these woes do lie,
But the true grounddeg of all these piteous woes
We cannot without circumstancedeg descry.
Enter [some of the Watch, with] Romeo's Man
[Balthasar].
Second Watchman. Here's Romeo's man. We found
him in the churchyard.
162 timeless untimely 163 churl rude fellow 169 happy opportune 180 ground cause 181 circumstance details
Chief Watchman. Hold him in safety till the Prince
come hither.
Enter Friar [Lawrence] and another Watchman.
Third Watchman. Here is a friar that trembles, sighs,
and weeps.
We took this mattock and this spade from him
As he was coming from this churchyard's side.
Chief Watchman. A great suspicion! Stay the friar too.
Enter the Prince [and Attendants].
Prince. What misadventure is so early up,
That calls our person from our morning rest?
Enter Capulet and his Wife [with others].
Capulet. What should it be, that is so shrieked abroad?
Lady Capulet. O, the people in the street cry "Romeo,"
Some "Juliet," and some "Paris"; and all run
With open outcry toward our monument.
Prince. What fear is this which startles in your ears?
Chief Watchman. Sovereign, here lies the County Paris
slain;
And Romeo dead; and Juliet, dead before,
Warm and new killed.
Prince. Search, seek, and know how this foul murder
comes.
Chief Watchman. Here is a friar, and slaughtered
Romeo's man,
With instruments upon them fit to open
These dead men's tombs.
Capulet. O heavens! O wife, look how our daughter
bleeds!
This dagger hath mista'en, for, lo, his housedeg
Is empty on the back of Montague,
And it missheathed in my daughter's bosom!
203 his house its sheath
Lady Capulet. O me, this sight of death is as a bell
That warns my old age to a sepulcher.
Enter Montague [and others].
Prince. Come, Montague; for thou art early up
To see thy son and heir more early down.
Montague. Alas, my liege, my wife is dead tonight!
Grief of my son's exile hath stopped her breath.
What further woe conspires against mine age?
Prince. Look, and thou shalt see.
Montague. O thou untaught! What manners is in this,
To press before thy father to a grave?
Prince. Seal up the mouth of outragedeg for a while,
Till we can clear these ambiguities
And know their spring, their head, their true
descent;
And then will I general of your woesdeg
And lead you even to death. Meantime forbear,
And let mischance be slave to patience.
Bring forth the parties of suspicion.
Friar. I am the greatest, able to do least,
Yet most suspected, as the time and place
Doth make against me, of this direful murder;
And here I stand, both to impeach and purgedeg
Myself condemned and myself excused.
Prince. Then say at once what thou dost know in this.
Friar. I will be brief, for my short date of breathdeg
Is not so long as is a tedious tale.
Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet;
And she, there dead, that's Romeo's faithful wife.
I married them; and their stol'n marriage day
Was Tybalt's doomsday, whose untimely death
Banished the new-made bridegroom from this city;
216 the mouth of outrage these violent cries 219 general of your woes leader in your sorrowing 226 impeach and purge make charges and exonerate 229 date of breath term of life
For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined.
You, to remove that siege of grief from her,
Betrothed and would have married her perforce
To County Paris. Then comes she to me
And with wild looks bid me devise some mean
To rid her from this second marriage,
Or in my cell there would she kill herself.
Then gave I her (so tutored by my art)
A sleeping potion; which so took effect
As I intended, for it wrought on her
The form of death. Meantime I writ to Romeo
That he should hither come asdeg this dire night
To help to take her from her borrowed grave,
Being the time the potion's force should cease.
But he which bore my letter, Friar John,
Was stayed by accident, and yesternight
Returned my letter back. Then all alone
At the prefixed hour of her waking
Came I to take her from her kindred's vault;
Meaning to keep her closelydeg at my cell
Till I conveniently could send to Romeo.
But when I came, some minute ere the time
Of her awakening, here untimely lay
The noble Paris and true Romeo dead.
She wakes; and I entreated her come forth
And bear this work of heaven with patience;
But then a noise did scare me from the tomb,
And she, too desperate, would not go with me,
But, as it seems, did violence on herself.
All this I know, and to the marriage
Her nurse is privy;deg and if aught in this
Miscarried by my fault, let my old life
Be sacrificed some hour before his time
Unto the rigor of severest law.
Prince. We stilldeg have known thee for a holy man.
Where's Romeo's man? What can he say to this?
Balthasar. I brought my master news of Juliet's death; 247 as on 255 closely hidden 266 privy accessory 270 still always
And then in post he came from Mantua
To this same place, to this same monument.
This letter he early bid me give his father,
And threat'ned me with death, going in the vault,
If I departed not and left him there.
Prince. Give me the letter. I will look on it.
Where is the County's page that raised the watch?
Sirrah, what made your masterdeg in this place?
Boy. He came with flowers to strew his lady's grave;
And bid me stand aloof, and so I did.
Anon comes one with light to ope the tomb;
And by and bydeg my master drew on him;
And then I ran away to call the watch.
Prince. This letter doth make good the friar's words,
Their course of love, the tidings of her death;
And here he writes that he did buy a poison
Of a poor apothecary and therewithaldeg
Came to this vault to die and lie with Juliet.
Where be these enemies? Capulet, Montague,
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.
And I, for winking atdeg your discords, too,
Have lost a bracedeg of kinsmen. All are punished.
Capulet. O brother Montague, give me thy hand.
This is my daughter's jointure,deg for no more
Can I demand.
Montague. But I can give thee more;
For I will raise her statue in pure gold,
That whiles Verona by that name is known,
There shall no figure at such ratedeg be set
As that of true and faithful Juliet.
Capulet. As rich shall Romeo's by his lady's lie--
Poor sacrifices of our enmity!
280 made your master was your master doing 284 by and by soon 289 therewithal therewith 294 winking at closing eyes to 295 brace pair (i.e., Mercutio and Paris) 297 jointure marriage settlement 301 rate value
Prince. A gloomingdeg peace this morning with it brings.
The sun for sorrow will not show his head.
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
Some shall be pardoned, and some punished;
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
[Exeunt omnes.]
FINIS
305 glooming cloudy
Textual Note
The First Quarto (Q1) of Romeo and Juliet was printed in 1597 without previous entry in the Stationers' Register. It bore the following title page: "An/ EXCELLENT/ conceited Tragedie/ OF/ Romeo and Iuliet./ As it hath been often (with great applause)/ plaid publiquely, by the right Ho-/ nourable the L. of Hunsdon/ his Seruants./ LONDON,/ Printed by Iohn Danter./ 1597." Until the present century, editors frequently assumed that this text, curtailed and manifestly corrupt, represented an early draft of the play. Most now agree that Q1, like the other "bad" Shakespeare quartos, is a memorial reconstruction; that is, a version which some of the actors (accusing fingers have been pointed at those who played Romeo and Peter) put together from memory and gave to the printer. The Second Quarto (Q2) was printed in 1599 with the following title page: "THE/ MOST/ EX-/ cellent and lamentable Tragedie, of Romeo and Iuliet./ Newly corrected, augmented, and/ amended: As it hath bene sundry times publiquely acted, by the/ right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine/ his Seruants./ London/ Printed by Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, and are to/ be sold at his shop neare the Exchange./ 1599." Apparently Q2 derives directly from the same acting version that is imperfectly reflected in the memorially reconstructed Q1, but it is based on a written script of the play rather than on actors' memories. Q2, however, is the product of careless or hasty printing and does not inspire complete confidence. Lines that the author doubtless had canceled are sometimes printed along with the lines intended to replace them, and occasionally notes about staging appear which are probably the prompter's, or possibly Shakespeare's. Vexing matters like these, together with the fact that some speeches in Q2 are clearly based on Q1 (possibly the manuscript that provided the copy for most of Q2 was illegible in places), have caused editors to make at least limited use of Q1. The other texts of Romeo and Juliet have no claim to authority. The Second Quarto provided the basis for a Third Quarto (1609), which in turn served as copy for an undated Fourth Quarto and for the text in the Folio of 1623. A Fifth Quarto, based on the Fourth, appeared in 1637.
None of these texts--including the Second Quarto, upon which the present edition is based--makes any real division of the play into acts and scenes. (The last third of Q1 does have a rough indication of scene division in the form of strips of ornamental border across the page, and the Folio has at the beginning Actus Primus. Scena Prima, but nothing further.) The division used here, like that in most modern texts, derives from the Globe edition, as do the Dramatis Personae and the various indications of place. Spelling and punctuation have been modernized, a number of stage directions have been added (in square brackets), and speech prefixes have been regularized. This last change will be regretted by those who feel, perhaps rightly, that at least some of the speech prefixes of Q2 show how Shakespeare thought of the character at each moment of the dialogue. Lady Capulet, for example, is variously designated in the speech prefixes of Q2 as Wife, Lady, and sometimes Mother; Capulet is occasionally referred to as Father, and Balthasar as Peter; the First Musician of our text (4.5) is once called Fidler in Q2 and several times Minstrel or Minstrels. Other deviations (apart from obvious typographical errors) from Q2 are listed in the textual notes. There the adopted reading is given first, in italics, followed by a note in square brackets if the source of the reading is Q1; this is followed by the rejected reading in roman. Absence of a note in square brackets indicates that the adopted reading has been taken from some other source and represents guesswork at best. Apparently the editors of F as well as of Q3 and Q4 had no access to any authentic document.
In dealing with the troublesome stage direction at the end of 1.4, I have followed the solution adopted by H. R. Hoppe in his Crofts Classics edition (1947); and I have adopted the reading of "eyes' shot" for the customary "eyes shut" at 3.2.49 from the Pelican edition of John E. Hankins (Penguin, 1960), which presents a good argument for retaining the reading of Q2 with the addition of an apostrophe.
1.1.29 in sense [Q1] sense 34 comes two [Q1] comes 65 swashing washing 123 drave driue 150 his is 156 sun same 182 well-seeming [Q1] welseeing 205 Bid a sick [Q1] A sicke 205 make [Q1] makes 206 Ah [Q1] A
1.2.32 on one 65-73 Signior . . . Helena [prose in Q1 and F] 92 fires fier
1.3.2-76 [Q2 prints Nurse's speeches in prose] 66, 67 honor [Q1] houre 99 make it [Q1] make
1.4.7-8 Nor . . . entrance [added from Q1] 23 Mercutio Horatio 39 done [Q1] dum 42 of this sir-reverence [Q1] or saue you reuerence 45 like lights 47 five fine 53-91 O . . . bodes [verse from Q1; Q2 has prose] 57 atomies ottamie 63 film Philome 66 maid [Q1] man 113 sail [Q1] sute 114 s.d. They . . . and [Q2 combines with s.d. used here at beginning of 1.5]
1.5. s.d. [Q2 adds "Enter Romeo"] 1, 4, 7, 12 First Servingman . . . Second Servingman . . . First Servingman . . . First Servingman [Q2 has "Ser.," "I.," "Ser.," and "Ser."] 97 ready [Q1] did readie 144 What's this? What's this? Whats tis? whats tis
2.1.9 one [Q1] on 10 pronounce [Q1] prouaunt 10 dove [Q1] day 12 heir [Q1] her 38 et cetera [Q1] or
2.2.16 do to 20 eyes eye 45 were wene 83 washed washeth 99 havior [Q1] behauior 101 more cunning [Q1] coying 162 than mine then 167 sweet Neece 186 Romeo [Q1] Iu. 187-88 [between these lines Q2 has "The grey eyde morne smiles on the frowning night, Checkring the Easterne Clouds with streaks of light, And darknesse fleckted like a drunkard reeles, / From forth daies pathway, made by Tytans wheeles," lines nearly identical with those given to the Friar at 2.3.1-4; presumably Shakespeare first wrote the lines for Romeo, then decided to use them in Friar Lawrence's next speech, but neglected to delete the first version, and the printer mistakenly printed it]
2.3.2 Check'ring Checking 3 flecked [Q1] fleckeld 74 ring yet [Q1] yet ringing
2.4.18 Benvolio [Q1] Ro. 30 fantasticoes [Q1] phantacies 215 Ah A
2.5.11 three there
2.6.27 music's musicke
3.1.2 are [Q1; Q2 omits] 91 s.d. Tybalt . . . flies [Q1; Q2 has "Away Tybalt"] 110 soundly too. Your soundly, to your 124 Alive [Q1] He gan 126 eyed [Q1] end 168 agile [Q1] aged 190 hate's [Q1] hearts 194 I It
3.2.51 determine of determine 60 one on 72-73 [Q2 gives line 72 to Juliet, line 73 to Nurse] 76 Dove-feathered Rauenous doue-featherd 79 damned dimme
3.3. s.d. Enter Friar [Q1] Enter Frier and Romeo 40 But . . . banished [in Q2 this line is preceded by one line, "This may flyes do, when I from this must flie," which is substantially the same as line 41, and by line 43, which is probably misplaced] 52 Thou [Q1] Then 61 madmen [Q1] mad man 73 s.d. Knock They knocke 75 s.d. Knock Slud knock 108 s.d. He . . . away [Q1; Q2 omits] 117 lives lies 143 misbehaved mishaued 162 s.d. Nurse . . . again [Q1; Q2 omits] 168 disguised disguise
3.5.13 exhales [Q1] exhale 36 s.d. Enter Nurse [Q1] Enter Madame and Nurse 42 s.d. He goeth down [Q1; Q2 omits] 54 Juliet Ro. 83 pardon him padon 140 gives giue 182 trained [Q1] liand
4.1.7 talked talke 72 slay [Q1] stay 83 chapless chapels 85 his shroud his 98 breath [Q1] breast 100 wanny many 110 In Is 110 [after this line Q2 has "Be borne to buriall in thy kindreds graue"; presumably as soon as Shakespeare wrote these words he decided he could do better, and expressed the gist of the idea in the next two lines, but the canceled line was erroneously printed] 111 shalt shall 116 waking walking
4.3.49 wake walke 58 Romeo, I drink [after "Romeo" Q2 has "heeres drinke," which is probably a stage direction printed in error] 58 s.d. She . . . curtains [Q1; Q2 omits]
4.4.21 faith [Q1] father
4.5.65 cure care 82 fond some 95 s.d. casting . . . curtains [Q1; Q2 omits] 101 by [Q1] my 101 amended amended. Exit omnes 101 s.d. Peter [Q2 has "Will Kemp," the name of the actor playing the role] 128 grief [Q1] griefes 129 And . . . oppress [Q1; Q2 omits] 135, 138 Pretty [Q1] Prates
5.1.11 s.d. booted [detail from Ql] 15 fares my [Q1] doth my Lady 24 e'en [Q1 "euen"] in 24 defy [Q1] denie 50 And An 76 pay [Q1] pray
5.3. s.d. with . . . water [Q1; Q2 omits] 3 yew [Q1] young 21 s.d. and Balthasar . . . iron [Q1; Q2 has "Enter Romeo and Peter," and gives lines 40 and 43 to Peter instead of to Balthasar] 48 s.d. Romeo . . . tomb [Q1; Q2 omits] 68 conjurations [Q1] commiration 71 Page [Q2 omits this speech prefix] 102 fair [Q2 follows with "I will beleeue," presumably words that Shakespeare wrote, then rewrote in the next line, but neglected to delete] 108 again. Here [between these words Q2 has the following material, which Shakespeare apparently neglected to delete: "come lye thou in my arme, / Heer's to thy health, where ere thou tumblest in. O true Appothecarie Thy drugs are quicke. Thus with a kisse I die. / Depart againe"] 137 yew yong 187 too too too 189 s.d. Enter . . . wife [Q2 places after line 201, with "Enter Capels" at line 189] 190 shrieked [Q1] shrike 199 slaughtered Slaughter 209 more early [Q1] now earling
A Note on the Source of Romeo and Juliet
The story of Romeo and Juliet was popular in Elizabethan times, and Shakespeare could have got his working outline of it from a number of places. Belleforest's Histoires Tragiques had a version, as did William Painter's Palace of Pleasure; and there had apparently been a play on the subject. Arthur Brooke, in an address "To the Reader" prefaced to his long narrative poem The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet, mentioned seeing "the same argument lately set foorth on stage"; but there is no evidence that Shakespeare worked from an older play or even that he consulted Belleforest or Painter, though he undoubtedly knew their works. All the evidence indicates that he worked directly from Brooke's poem, which Richard Tottell had printed in 1562 and Robert Robinson had reissued in 1587, shortly before the time that Shakespeare must have begun writing for the London stage.
