What's in a name ? that which we call a rofe,
By any other name' would fmell as fweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes,
Without that title:-Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself 2.

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 in 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 not yet drunk a hundred words

9-nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be fome other name!

What's in a name? &c.] The middle line is not found in the original copy of 1597, being added, it fhould feem, on a revifion. The paffage in the first copy ftands thus:

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part:

What's in a name? That which we call a rofe, &c.

In the copy of 1599 and all the subsequent ancient copies, the words nor any other part were omitted by the oversight of the transcriber or printer, and the lines thus abfurdly exhibited:

Nor arm nor face, O be fome other name!

Belonging to a man.

What's in a name, &c.

Belonging, &c. evidently was intended to begin a line, as it now does; but the printer having omitted the words nor any other part, took the remainder of the fubfequent line, and carried it to that which preceeded. The tranfpofition now made needs no note to fupport it: the context in this and many other places fuperfedes all arguments.

MALONE.

By any other name-] Thus the quarto, 1597. All the fubfequent ancient copies read-By any other word. MALONE.

? Take all my felf.] The elder quarto reads, Take all I bave.

STIEVENS.

Of

Of that tongue's utterance3, yet I know the found;
Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?

Rom. Neither, fair faint, if either thee diflike*.

Jul. 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 kinsmen find thee here.

Rom. With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls 5;

For ftony limits cannot hold love out :

And what love can do, that dares love attempt;
Therefore thy kinfmen are no let 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 7; look thou but fweet,

3 My ears bave not yet drunk a bundred words

Of that tongue's utterance,] Thus the quarto, 1597. The fubfequent ancient copies read-of thy tongue's uttering. We meet with almost the fame words as thofe here attributed to Romeo, in King Edward III. a tragedy, 1596:

"I might perceive his eye in her eye loft,

"His ear to drink ber fweet tongue's utterance." MALONE. 4 Neither, fair faint, if either thee dinike.] Thus the original copy. The fubfequent ancient copies read-fair maid. "If either thee diflike" was the phrafeology of Shakspeare's age. So, it likes me well; for it pleases me well. MALONE.

s With love's light wings did I o'er-perch thefe walls;] Here alfo we find Shakspeare following the fteps of the authour of The Hyftory of. Romeus and Juliet, 1562:

"Approaching near the place from whence his heart had life, "So light he wox, he leap'd the wall, and there he spy'd his wite,

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

MALONE.

-no let to me.] i. e. no ftop or hinderance. So, in Hamlet: "By heaven I'll make a ghost of him that lets me." Thus the original edition. The fubfequent copies read-no fop to

me.

MALONE.

7-bere lies more peril in thine eye,

Than twenty of their fwords;

thought in The Maid of the Mill:

B. and Fletcher have copied this

"The lady may command, fir;

She bears an eye more dreadful than your weapon."

STEEVENS.

And

And I am proof against their enmity.

Jul. 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 9:
My life were better ended by their hate,

Than death prorogued', wanting of thy love.

Jul. By whofe direction found ft thou out this place? Rom. By love, who first did prompt me to inquire; He lent me counfel, and I lent him eyes.

I am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far

As that vaft shore wash'd with the farthest sea,

I would adventure for fuch merchandise.

Jul. Thou know'ft, the mask of night is on my face; Elfe would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek, For that which thou hast heard me speak 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 swear'ft,

-from their fight;] So the first quarto. All the other ancient copies have from their eyes. MALONE.

9 And, but thou love me, let them find me bere:] And fo thou do but love me, I care not what may befall me: Let me be found here. Such appears to me to be the meaning.

Mr. Mafon thinks that "but thou love me," means, unless thou love me; grounding himfelf, I fuppofe, on the two fubfequent lines. But thofe contain, in my apprehenfion, a diftinct propofition. He first fays, that he is content to be difcovered, if he be but fecure of her affection; and then adds, that death from the hands of her kinsmen would be preferable to life without her love. But, however, it must be acknowledged, has often in old English the meaning which Mr. Mason would here affix to it. MALONE.

Than death prorogued,] i. e. delayed, deferred to a more diftant period. So in Act IV. fc. i.

I hear thou muft, and nothing may prorogue it,

"On thursday next be married to this county." MALONE. 2-farewell compliment !] That is, farewell attention to forms.

MASON.

Thou

Thou may'ft prove falfe; at lovers' perjuries,
They fay, Jove laughs. O, gentle Romeo,
If thou doft love, pronounce it faithfully:
Or if thou think'ft I am too quickly won,
I'll frown, and be perverfe, and fay thee nay,
So thou wilt woo; but, elfe, not for the world.
In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond;

And therefore thou may'ft think my haviour light:
But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true
Than those that have more cunning to be strange.
J. should have been more strange, I must confefs,
But that thou over-heard 'ft, ere I was ware,
My true love's paffion: therefore pardon me;
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath fo difcovered.

Rom. Lady, by yonder bleffed moon I fwear, That tips with filver all these fruit-tree tops,— Jul. O, fwear not by the moon, the inconstant moon That monthly changes in her circled orb, Left that thy love prove likewife variable. Rom. What fhall I swear by ?

Jul. Do not fwear at all;

Or, if thou wilt, fwear by thy gracious self,
Which is the god of my idolatry,

And I'll believe thee.

Rom. If my heart's dear love

Jul. Well, do not fwear: although I joy in thee,

I have no joy of this contract to-night:

It is too rash, too unadvis'd, too fudden;

Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be,

3 Than those that have more cunning to be frange.] Thus the quarto, 1597. In the subsequent ancient copies cunning was changed to-coying. MALONE,

To be frange, is to put on affected coldness, to appear fhy. So, in Greene's Mamilia, 1593: "Is it the fashion in Padua to be foftrange with your friends?" STEEVENS.

See Vol. X. p. 38, n. 4. MALONE.

Ere

Ere one can fay-It lightens *. Sweet, good nights!
This bud of love, by fummer's ripening breath,,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
Good night, good night! as fweet repofe and reft
Come to thy heart, as that within my breast!
Rom. O, wilt thou leave me fo unfatisfied?

Jul. What fatisfaction canft thou have to-night?
Rom. The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.
Jul. I gave thee mine before thou didst requeft it:
And yet I would it were to give again.

Rom. Would't thou withdraw it? for what purpose, love?

Jul. But to be frank, and give it thee again.
And yet I wish but for the thing I have:
My bounty is as boundlefs as the fea,

My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.

[Nurfe calls within.
I hear fome noife within; Dear love, adieu !
Anon, good nurie !-Sweet Montague, be true.
Stay but a little, I will come again.

Ram. O bleffed bleffed night! I am afeard,
Being in night, all this is but a dream,
Too flattering-fweet to be fubftantial.

Re-enter JULIET, above.

[Exit.

Jul. Three words, dear Romeo, and good night, in

deed.

4 Ere one can fay-It lightens.] So, in the Miracles of Mofes, by Drayton :

"-lightning ceaselessly to burn,

"Swifter than thought from place to place to pass,
"And being gone, doth fuddenly return

"Ere you could fay precisely what it was.”

The fame thought occurs in the Midfummer Night's Dream. STEEV. Drayton's Miracles of Mofes was first printed in quarto, in 1604.

MALONE.

5 Sreet, good night !] All the intermediate lines from Sweet, good night, to Stay but a little, &c. were added after the first copy. STEEV.