Page:Romeo and Juliet (1917) Yale.djvu/58

46

Rom. Thou wast never with me for anything

when thou wast not here for the goose.

Mer. I will bite thee by the ear for that jest.

Rom. Nay, good goose, bite not.

Mer. Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting; it is

a most sharp sauce.

Rom. And is it not then well served in to a

sweet goose?

Mer. O! here's a wit of cheveril, that stretches

from an inch narrow to an ell broad.

Rom. I stretch it out for that word 'broad;'

which added to the goose, proves thee far and

wide a broad goose.

Mer. Why, is not this better now than groan-

ing for love? now art thou sociable, now art thou

Romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art as

well as by nature: for this drivelling love is like

a great natural, that runs lolling up and down

to hide his bauble in a hole.

Ben. Stop there, stop there.

Mer. Thou desirest me to stop in my tale

against the hair.

Ben. Thou wouldst else have made thy tale

large.

Mer. O! thou art deceived; I would have

made it short; for I was come to the whole

depth of my tale, and meant indeed to occupy

the argument no longer.

Rom. Here's goodly gear!

A sail, a sail!

 86 sweeting: kind of apple

90 cheveril: kid leather

94 broad: evident

99 natural: idiot

100 bauble: stick carried by a court fool

103 against the hair: against the grain

110 gear: business

