Page:Romeo and Juliet (1917) Yale.djvu/55

Romeo and Juliet, II. iv 

Mer. Where the devil should this Romeo be?

Came he not home to-night?

Ben. Not to his father's; I spoke with his man.

Mer. Why that same pale hard-hearted wench, that Rosaline,

Torments him so, that he will sure run mad.

Ben. Tybalt, the kinsman to old Capulet,

Hath sent a letter to his father's house.

Mer. A challenge, on my life.

Ben. Romeo will answer it.

Mer. Any man that can write may answer a letter.

Ben. Nay, he will answer the letter's master,

how he dares, being dared.

Mer. Alas! poor Romeo, he is already dead;

stabbed with a white wench's black eye; run

through the ear with a love-song; the very pin

of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy's

butt-shaft; and is he a man to encounter

Tybalt?

Ben. Why, what is Tybalt?

Mer. More than prince of cats, I can tell you.

O! he is the courageous captain of compliments.

He fights as you sing prick-song, keeps time,

distance, and proportion; rests me his minim

rest, one, two, and the third in your bosom; the

 12 dared: defied

15 pin: peg in the centre of a target

17 butt-shaft: unbarbed arrow used in shooting at targets

20 prince of cats; cf. n.

21 captain of compliments: chief observer of formal ceremonies

22 prick-song: a part written out, not improvised

23 proportion: rhythm

minim: half measure (in music)

