Page:Romeo and Juliet (Dowden).djvu/173

I tell thee what: get thee to church o'[C 1] Thursday, Or never after look me in the face: Speak not, reply not, do not answer me; My fingers itch.—Wife,[C 2] we scarce thought us blest That God had lent[C 3][E 1] us but this only child;165 But now I see this one is one too much, And that we have a curse[C 4] in having her. Out on her, hilding![E 2]

Nurse.

God in heaven bless her!— You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so.

Cap.	And why, my lady wisdom? hold your tongue,170 Good prudence; smatter[C 5][E 3] with your gossips;[C 6] go.

Nurse.

I speak no treason.

Cap.	O, God ye good den.[C 7][E 4]

Nurse.[C 8]

May not one speak?

Cap.	Peace,[E 5] you mumbling fool! Utter your gravity o'er a gossip's bowl,[C 9] For here we need it not.

Lady Cap.

You are too hot.175

1. 161. o'] Theobald; a Q, F.
2. 164. itch.—Wife,] Capell, itch: Wife, Q 5, itch, wife, Q, itch, wife: F.
3. 165. lent] Q, F; sent Q 1.
4. 167. curse] Q, F; crosse Q 1.
5. 171. prudence; smatter] F (comma after Prudence), Prudence smatter Q;
6. gossips] Q, gossip F.
7. 172. Cap. O, ... den] Capell (hyphening God-ye-good-den, and adding ?); Cap. Oh goddegodden Q 1; Father, ô Godigeden Q (continued to Nurse, and so F, spelling Godigoden); Fa. O Godigeden Qq 4, 5.
8. 173. Nurse] Qq 4, 5; omitted Q, F.
9. 174. bowl] Q, bowles F.

1. 165. lent] Many editors prefer the sent of Q 1.
2. 168. hilding] See [[../../Act 2/Scene 4|II. iv. 47]].
3. 171. smatter] prate. So J. Heywood, The Pardoner and the Friar: "What, standest thou there all the day smattering!" Hazlitt's Dodsley's Old Plays, i. 211.
4. 172. God ye good den] God give you good even; see [[../../Act 1/Scene 2|I. ii. 58]]. Qq 4, 5 rightly assign these words to Fa. (Father, i.e. Capulet). Q, F make Father part of the speech, assigning to Nurse the words from "I speak" to "one speak?"
5. 173. Peace] Theobald emended the metre by reading Peace, peace. Fleay conjectures speak t' ye as the close of the Nurse's preceding speech.