Enter ABRAM and BALTHASAR. SAM. My naked weapon is out; quarrel, I will back thee. GRE. How? turn thy back, and run? SAM. Fear me not. GRE. No, marry: I fear thee! SAM. Let us take the law of our fides; let them begin. GRE. I will frown, as I pafs by; and let them take it as they lift. SAM. Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them; which is a difgrace to them, if they bear it.6 word two, which was inadvertently omitted by the compofitor in the quarto 1599, and of courfe in the fubfequent impreffions, I have restored from the first quarto of 1597, from which, in almoft every page, former editors have drawn many valuable emendations in this play. The difregard of concord is in character. It fhould be obferved, that the partizans of the Montague family wore a token in their hats, in order to diftinguish them from their enemies, the Capulets. Hence throughout this play, they are known at a distance. This circumftance is mentioned by Gafcoigne, in a Devife of a Mafque, written for the Right Honourable Viscount Mountacute, 1575: 66 And for a further proofe, he thewed in hys hat "Thys token which the Mountacutes did beare alwaies, for that "They covet to be knowne from Capels, where they pass, "For ancient grutch whych long ago 'tweene these two houfes was." MALONE. I will bite my thumb at them; which is a difgrace to them, if they bear it.] So it fignifies in Randolph's Mufes Looking-Glafs, A& III. fc iii. p. 45: 66 Orgylus. To bite his thumb at me. Argus. Why fhould not a man bite his thumb ? Orgylus. At me? were I fcorn'd to fee men bite their thumbs; "Rapiers and daggers," &c. GREY. ABR. DO you bite your thumb at us, fir? ABR. DO you bite your thumb at us, fir? SAM. Is the law on our fide, if I fay-ay? SAM. No, fir, I do not bite my thumb at you, fir; but I bite my thumb, fir. GRE. Do you quarrel, fir? ABR. Quarrel, fir? no, fir. SAM. If you do, fir, I am for you; I ferve as good a man as you. ABR. No better. Dr. Lodge, in a pamphlet called Wits Miferie &c. 1596, has this paffage:" Behold next I fee Contempt marching forth, giving mee the fico with his thombe in his mouth." In a tranflation from Stephens's Apology for Herodotus, in 1607, p. 142, I meet with these words: "It is faid of the Italians, if they once bite their fingers' ends in a threatning manner, God knows, if they set upon their enemie face to face, it is because they cannot affail him behind his backe." Perhaps Ben Jonfon ridicules this fcene of Romeo and Juliet, in his New Inn: "Huff. How, Spill it? Tip. I reck not, but I spill it." STEEVENS. This mode of quarrelling appears to have been common in our author's time. "What fwearing is there, (fays Decker, defcribing the various groupes that daily frequented the walks of St. Paul's Church,) what fhouldering, what juftling, what jeering, what byting of thumbs, to beget quarrels !" THE DEAD TERM, 1608. MALONE. Enter BENVOLIO," at a Difiance. GRE. Say-better; here comes one of my kinfmen.8 SAM. Yes, better, fir. ABR. You lie. mafter's SAM. Draw, if you be men.-Gregory, remember thy swashing blow.9 [They fight. fwords; you know [Beats down their Swords. BEN. Part, fools; put up your not what you do. Enter TYBALT. Trь. What, art thou drawn among these heartlefs hinds? 7 Enter Benvolio,] Much of this fcene is added fince the first edition; but probably by Shakspeare, fince we find it in that of the year 1599. POPE. 8 — here comes one of my master's kinfmen.] Some mistake has happened in this place: Gregory is a fervant of the Capulets, and Benvolio was of the Montague faction. FARMER. Perhaps there is no mistake. Gregory may mean Tybalt, who enters immediately after Benvolio, but on a different part of the ftage. The eyes of the fervant may be directed the way he fees Tybalt coming, and in the mean time, Benvolio enters on the oppofite fide. STEEVENS. 9thy fwafhing blow.] Ben Jonfon ufes this expression in his Staple for News: "I do confefs a fwashing blow." In The Three Ladies of London, 1584, Fraud fays: "I will flaunt and brave it after the lufty fwash." Again, in As you like it: "I'll have a martial and a swashing outside." See Vol. VIII. p. 38, n. 8. To fwash feems to have meant to be a bully, to be noifily valiant. So, Green, in his Card of Fancy, 1608: "-in fpending and spoiling, in fwearing and fwashing." Barrett, in his Al vearie, 1580, fays, that "to fwash is to make a noife with fwordes against tergats." STEEVENS. Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death. BEN. I do but keep the peace; put up thy fword, Or manage it to part thefe men with me. TYB. What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee: Have at thee, coward. [They fight. Enter feveral Partizans of both Houses, who join the Fray; then enter Citizens, with Clubs. 1 CIT. Clubs, bills,' and partizans! strike! beat them down! Down with the Capulets! down with the Montagues! Enter CAPULET, in his Gown; and Lady CAPULET. CAP. What noife is this?-Give me my long fword, ho! ' Clubs, bills, &c.] When an affray arofe in the streets, clubs was the ufual exclamation. See Vol. VIII. p. 166, n. 3, and Vol. XIII. p. 35, n. 6. MALONE. 2 Give me my long fword.] The long fword was the fword ufed in war, which was fometimes wielded with both hands. See Vol. V. p. 76, n. 3. MALONE. JOHNSON. This long fiord is mentioned in The Coxcomb, a comedy by Beaumont and Fletcher, where the justice says: "Take their confeffions, and my long Sword; "I cannot tell what danger we may meet with." Chapman, without authority from Homer, has equipped Neptune with this weapon: "King Neptune, with his long fword,-" Iliad XV. It appears that it was once the fashion to wear two fwords of different fizes at the fame time. So, in Decker's Satiromaftix, 1602: "Peter Salamander, tie up your great and your little fiord." LA. CAP. A crutch, a crutch!-Why call you for a fword? CAP. My fword, I fay!-Old Montague is couǝ, And flourishes his blade in fpite of me. Enter MONTAGUE and Lady MONTAGUE. MON. Thou villain Capulet,-Hold me not, let me go. LA. MON. Thou shalt not ftir one foot to feek a foe. Enter Prince, with Attendants. PRIN. Rebellious fubjects, enemies to peace, That quench the fire of your pernicious rage The little fword was the weapon commonly worn, the drefs fword. STEEVENS. The little sword was probably nothing more than a dagger. 3 MALONE. mis-temper'd weapons-] are angry weapons. So, in King John: This inundation of mis-temper'd humour," &c. STEEVENS. |