Page:Romeo and Juliet (1917) Yale.djvu/137

Romeo and Juliet hit anie Englishman with a thrust upon anie button' (Silver's Paradoxes of Defence, cited by Staunton).

grandsire. Probably Mercutio thus addresses Benvolio because of the latter's quiet, conservative character unlikely to sympathize with new and extravagant modes.

pardonnez-mois, etc. Along with such affectations of French words came also the large French breeches ill-suited to old-fashioned seats. Mercutio puns on the two meanings of form, 'bench' and 'fashion,' and on French 'bon' and English 'bone.'

without his roe. 'That is, he comes but half himself; he is only a sigh—O me! that is, me O!, the half of his name.' (Seymour.)

Petrarch. The love sonnets in which the Italian poet Petrarch (1304–1374) glorified his adored Laura were extremely popular and much imitated in Shakespeare's time.

pump well flowered. 'Here is a vein of wit too thin to be easily found. The fundamental idea is that Romeo wore pinked pumps—that is, punched in holes with figures.' (Johnson.)

wild-goose chase. A kind of horse race in which the rider who fell behind was obliged to follow the leader over whatever ground he chose.

Lady, lady, lady. From the refrain of the popular old ballad of Chaste Susanna.

dog's name. That R was called the dog's letter because he 'arres and barks against the moon,' does not clear the nurse's meaning. Probably it was no clearer to the nurse herself.

depend. The unhappy destiny of to-day hangs over many future days.

hate's. The conventional reading, from Q1. If the reading of Q2, 'hearts',' be substituted, the meaning is that by the loss of his kinsman Escalus has been so drawn into the quarrel that he