The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (Dowden)/Act 1/Scene 1

ACT I[C 1]


SCENE I.—Verona. A public Place.


Enter Sampson and Gregory, of the house of Capulet, with swords and bucklers.


Sam. Gregory, on[C 2] my word, we'll not carry coals[E 1].
Gre. No, for then we should be colliers[E 2].
Sam. I mean, an[C 3] we be in choler[E 3], we'll draw.
Gre. Ay, while you live, draw your neck out o' the[C 4]
collar.5
Sam. I strike quickly, being moved.
Gre. But thou art not quickly moved to strike.
Sam. A dog of the house of Montague moves me.
Gre. To move is to stir, and to be valiant is to
stand;[E 4] therefore, if thou art moved, thou10
runn'st away.
Sam. A dog of that house shall move me to stand:
I will take the wall of any man or maid of
Montague's.
Gre. That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest15
goes to the wall.[E 5]
Sam. 'Tis true;[C 5] and therefore women, being the
weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall:
therefore I will push Montague's men from the
wall and thrust his maids to the wall.20
Gre. The quarrel is between our masters and us
their men.[E 6]
Sam. 'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant:
when I have fought with the men, I will be
cruel[C 6][E 7] with the maids; I will cut[C 7] off their heads.25
Gre. The heads of the maids?[C 8]
Sam. Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maiden-
heads; take it in what sense thou wilt.
Gre. They must take it in[C 9] sense that feel it.
Sam. Me they shall feel while I am able to stand;30
and 'tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh.[E 8]
Gre. Tis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou
hadst been poor John.[E 9] Draw thy tool; here
comes two[C 10] of the house of the[C 11] Montagues.

Enter Abraham and Balthasar.[C 12][E 10]

Sam. My naked weapon is out: quarrel; I will35
back thee.
Gre. How! turn thy back and run?[C 13]
Sam. Fear me not.
Gre. No, marry; I fear thee!
Sam. Let us take the law of our sides; let them40
begin.
Gre. I will frown as I pass by, and let them take it
as they list.
Sam. Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb[E 11] at
them; which is a[C 14] disgrace to them, if they45
bear it.
Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
Sam. I do bite my thumb, sir.
Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
Sam. [Aside to Gre.] Is the law of our side if I50
say ay?
Gre. No.
Sam. No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir;
but I bite my thumb, sir.
Gre. Do you quarrel, sir?55
Abr. Quarrel, sir! no,[C 15] sir.
Sam. If[C 16] you do, sir, I am for you: I serve as good
a man as you.
Abr. No better.[C 17]
Sam. Well, sir.60

Enter Benvolio.

Gre. [Aside to Sam.] Say "better": here comes one
of my master's kinsmen.[E 12]
Sam. Yes, better, sir.[C 18]
Abr. You lie.
Sam. Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remember65
thy swashing[C 19][E 13] blow.[They fight.
Ben. Part, fools![Beating down their weapons.
Put up your swords; you know not what
you do.

Enter Tybalt.

Tyb. What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds[E 14]?70
Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death.
Ben. I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword,
Or manage it to part these men with me.
Tyb. What, drawn[C 20], and talk of peace! I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:75
Have at thee, coward![They fight.

Enter several of both houses, who join the fray; then enter Citizens and Peace-officers, with clubs.[C 21]

First Off.[C 22][E 15] Clubs[E 16], bills[E 17], and partisans[E 18]! strike! beat them down!
Down with the Capulets! down with the Montagues!

Enter old Capulet in his gown, and Lady Capulet.

Cap. What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!
Lady Cap. A crutch, a crutch! why call you for a sword?80
Cap. My sword, I say! Old Montague is come,
And flourishes his blade in spite of me[E 19].

Enter old Montague and Lady Montague.

Mon. Thou villain Capulet!—Hold me not; let me go.
Lady Mon. Thou shalt not stir one[C 23] foot to seek a foe.

Enter Prince Escalus[C 24], with his Train.

Prince. Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,85
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel[C 25],—
Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands90
Throw your mistemper'd[E 20] weapons to the ground,
And hear the sentence of your moved prince
Three civil brawls[C 26], bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets,95
And made Verona's ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments[E 21],
To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate[E 22]:
If ever you disturb our streets again100
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For this time, all the rest depart away:
You, Capulet, shall go along with me;
And, Montague, come you this afternoon
To know our farther[C 27] pleasure in this case,105
To old Free-town[E 23], our common judgment-place.
Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.

[Exeunt all but Montague, Lady Montague, and Benvolio.

Mon.[C 28] Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach?
Speak, nephew, were you by when it began?
Ben. Here were the servants of your adversary110
And yours close fighting ere I did approach:
I drew to part them; in the instant came
The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared[E 24],
Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears,
He swung about his head, and cut the winds,115
Who, nothing hurt withal, hiss'd him in scorn:
While we were interchanging thrusts and blows,
Came more and more, and fought on part and part,
Till the prince came, who parted either part.
Lady Mon. O, where is Romeo? saw you him to-day?120
Right glad I am[C 29] he was not at this fray.
Ben. Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun
Peer'd forth the golden window of the east[E 25],
A troubled mind drave[C 30][E 26] me to walk abroad;
Where, underneath the grove of sycamore[E 27]125
That westward rooteth from the city's[C 31] side,
So early walking did I see your son:
Towards him I made; but he was ware of me,
And stole into the covert of the wood:
I, measuring his affections by my own,130
Which then most sought where most might not be found,[E 28]
Being one too many by my weary self,
Pursued my humour[C 32], not pursuing his[E 29],
And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me.
Mon. Many a morning hath he there been seen,135
With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew,
Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs:
But all so soon as the all-cheering sun
Should in the farthest east begin to draw
The shady curtains from Aurora's bed,140
Away from light steals home my heavy son[E 30],
And private in his chamber pens himself,
Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out,
And makes himself an artificial night.
Black and portentous must this humour prove145
Unless good counsel may the cause remove.
Ben. My noble uncle, do you know the cause?
Mon. I neither know it nor can learn of him.
Ben. Have you importuned him by any means?
Mon. Both by myself and many other[C 33] friends[E 31]:150
But he, his own affections' counsellor,
Is to himself—I will not say how true—
But to himself so secret and so close,
So far from sounding and discovery,
As is the bud bit with an envious[E 32] worm,155
Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air,
Or dedicate his beauty to the sun[C 34][E 33].
Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow,
We would as willingly give cure as know.

Enter Romeo.

Ben. See where he comes: so please you, step aside;160
I'll know his grievance, or be much denied.
Mon. I would thou wert so happy by thy stay,
To hear true shrift. Come, madam, let's away.
[Exeunt Montague and Lady.
Ben. Good morrow, cousin.
Rom. Is the day so young?
Ben. But new struck nine.
Rom. Ay me! sad hours seem long.165
Was that my father that went hence so fast?
Ben. It was. What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours?
Rom. Not having that, which, having, makes them short.
Ben. In love?[C 35]
Rom. Out—[C 36]170
Ben. Of love?[C 37]
Rom. Out of her favour, where I am in love.
Ben. Alas, that love, so gentle in his view,
Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof!
Rom. Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still,175
Should without eyes see pathways to his will![E 34]
Where shall we dine?[E 35] O me! What fray was here?
Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all.
Here's much to do with hate, but more with love[E 36]:
Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate![E 37]180
O any thing, of nothing first created[C 38][E 38]!
O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming[C 39] forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!
Still-waking[E 39] sleep, that is not what it is!185
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?
Ben. No, coz, I rather weep.
Rom. Good heart, at what?
Ben. At thy good heart's oppression.
Rom. Why, such is love's transgression.[E 40]
Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,190
Which thou wilt propagate to have it[C 40] prest[E 41]
With more of thine: this love[E 42] that thou hast shown
Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
Love is a smoke raised[C 41] with the fume of sighs;
Being purged[E 43], a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;195
Being vex'd, a sea nourish'd with lovers'[C 42] tears[E 44];
What is it else? a madness most discreet,
A choking gall, and a preserving[E 45] sweet.
Farewell, my coz.
Ben. Soft! I will go along;
An[C 43] if you leave me so, you do me wrong.200
Rom. Tut, I have lost[E 46] myself; I am not here;
This is not Romeo, he's some other where.
Ben. Tell me in sadness[E 47], who is[E 48] that you love.
Rom. What, shall I groan and tell thee?
Ben. Groan! why, no;
But sadly tell me who.205
Rom. Bid a sick man in sadness make[C 44] his will:
Ah, word[C 45] ill urged to one that is so ill!
In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman.
Ben. I aim'd so near when I supposed you loved.
Rom. A right good mark-man! And she's fair I love.210

Ben. A right fair mark[E 49], fair coz, is soonest hit.
Rom. Well[C 46], in that hit you miss: she'll not be hit
With Cupid's arrow; she hath Dian's wit;
And, in strong proof[E 50] of chastity well arm'd,
From love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd[C 47][E 51].215
She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor bide[C 48] the encounter of assailing eyes,
Nor ope[C 49] her lap to saint-seducing gold:
O, she is rich in beauty; only poor
That, when she dies, with beauty dies her store[E 52].220
Ben. Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste?
Rom. She hath, and in that sparing makes[C 50] huge waste[E 53];
For beauty, starved[E 54] with her severity,
Cuts beauty off from all posterity.
She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair[E 55],225
To merit bliss by making me despair:
She hath forsworn to love; and in that vow
Do I live dead, that live to tell it now.
Ben. Be ruled by me; forget to think of her.
Rom. O, teach me how I should forget to think.230
Ben. By giving liberty unto thine eyes:
Examine other beauties.
Rom. 'Tis the way
To call hers, exquisite, in question more.[E 56]
These happy masks[E 57] that kiss fair ladies' brows,
Being black, put[C 51] us in mind they hide the fair;235
He that is strucken blind cannot forget
The precious treasure of his eyesight lost:
Show me a mistress that is passing fair,
What doth her beauty serve but as a note
Where I may read who pass'd that passing fair?240
Farewell: thou canst not teach me to forget.
Ben. I'll pay that doctrine[E 58], or else die in debt.
[Exeunt.


Critical notes

  1. Act I. Scene I.] No marking of Acts and Scenes in Q; none except here in F.
  2. 1. on] Q, A F, o' Capell.
  3. 3. an] Theobald, and Q, if F.
  4. 4. o' the] F, of Q.
  5. 17. 'Tis true] Q, True F.
  6. 25. cruel] Qq 4, 5; civil Q, F;
  7. I will cut] Q, and cut F.
  8. 26. maids?] F, maids. Q.
  9. 29. in] Q1, F; omitted Q.
  10. 34. two] Q1; omitted Q, F;
  11. house of the] F, house of Q.
  12. Enter …] Rowe; Enter two other serving men Q, F.
  13. 37. run?] Q, run. F.
  14. 45. a] omitted Q (alone).
  15. 56. sir! no] Dyce; sir, no Q; sir? no F.
  16. 57. If] F, But if Q.
  17. 59. better.] Q, better? F.
  18. 63. sir] Q, omitted F.
  19. 66. swashing] Qq 4, 5; washing Q, F.
  20. 74. drawn] Q, draw F and several editors.
  21. 76. Enter … clubs] Capell, substantially; Enter three or foure Citizens with Clubs or partysons Q; so F, omitting "or partisans."
  22. 77. First Off.] Offi. Q, F; Cit. Steevens; 1 Cit. Malone; Citizens Dyce.
  23. 84. one] Q, a F.
  24. Escalus] Cambridge; Eskales Q, F.
  25. 86. steel] Q, F; soil,— Daniel conjec. Hudson.
  26. 93. brawls] Q, Broyles F, broils Rowe and others.
  27. 105. farther] Q, further Q5, Fathers Q3, F.
  28. 108. Mon.] Q, F; M: wife Q1.
  29. 121. I am] Q, am I F.
  30. 124. drave] F, drive Q. 126.
  31. 126. the city's] Q1, Malone; this city Q, F.
  32. 133. humour] Q, honour F.
  33. 150. other] Q, others F.
  34. 157. sun] Pope, ed. 2. (Theobald); same Q, F.
  35. 169. In love?] Q5, In love. The rest.
  36. 170. Out—] Rowe; Out. Q, F.
  37. 171. Of love?] Q5, Of love. The rest.
  38. 181. created] Q, F; create Q1, Ff 2–4, and many editors.
  39. 183. Well-seeming] Qq 4, 5, Ff. 2–4; well-seeing The rest; best seeming things Q1.
  40. 191. it] Q, F; them Q1.
  41. 194. raised] Q1 and many editors; made Q, F.
  42. 196. lovers'] a lovers Q1; lovers Pope; loving Q, F.
  43. 200. An] Hanmer; And Q, F.
  44. 206. Bid … make] Qq 1, 4, 5; A sicke … makes Qq 2, 3, F; later Ff emend F by inserting good before sadness.
  45. 207. Ah, word] Q1, Malone, and other editors; A word Q, F, and several editors; O, word Ff 2–4.
  46. 212. Well] Q, F; But Q1.
  47. 215. unharm'd] Q1; uncharmd Q, F.
  48. 217. bide] Q, bid F.
  49. 218. ope] Q, open F.
  50. 222. makes] Q4; make Q, F.
  51. 235. put] Q5; puts Q, F.


Explanatory notes

  1. 1. carry coals] submit to menials' work, and so to humiliation or insult. New Eng. Dict. quotes J. Hooker, Girald. Ireland, in Holinshed (1586), ii. 105: "This gentleman was … one that in an upright quarrell would beare no coles."
  2. 2. colliers] New Eng. Dict.: "Often used with allusion to the dirtiness of the trade in coal, or the evil repute of the collier for cheating: cf. Greene's Coosnage of Colliers (1591)." See Twelfth Night III. iv. 130.
  3. 3. choler] The play on "choler," "collar," and "draw" occurs in Jonson's Every Man in his Humour, III. ii. (dialogue between Cob and Cash).
  4. 10. stand] Q1 has "stand to it."
  5. 15, 16. weakest … wall] A proverbial saying; so Machin, Dumb Knight: "The weakest must to the wall still." A play of 1600 had the proverb for its title. See III. iv. 12 (note).
  6. 21, 22. The quarrel … men] Martley's conjecture, "not us their men," is unhappy. Gregory means that masters and men, but not women, are included in the quarrel.
  7. 25. cruel] Possibly civil is right, a tyrant's civility to maids showing itself, as Sampson indicates, in a seeming paradox.
  8. 31. pretty piece of flesh] The same expression occurs in Much Ado, iv. ii. 85, and Love's Cure, III. iv. 16.
  9. 33. poor John] hake, dried and salted, poor and coarse eating; Massinger, Renegado, i. i.: "To feed upon poor John when I see pheasants And partridges on the table.
  10. 34. Enter … Abraham] In Q, F, "Enter two other serving men." Abraham's name can be inferred from the prefix to his speeches. His silent fellow was named by Rowe, Balthasar being Romeo's man.
  11. 44. bite my thumb] Singer quotes from Cotgrave a description of this mode of insult: "Faire la nique … to threaten or defie, by putting the "thumb nail into the mouth, and with a jerke (from the upper teeth) make it to knacke."
  12. 61, 62. one of my master's kinsmen] Tybalt is meant, who is seen approaching.
  13. 66. swashing] Jonson in his Staple of News, v. i., has "I do confess a swashing blow"; and in As You Like It, i. iii. 122, we have "a swashing and a martial outside." But the washing of F, Q is possible. Daniel (who reads swashing) quotes Rich. Harvey, Plaine Percevall (1589): "A washing blow of this [a quarter-staff] is as good as a Laundresse." Baret, Alvearie, has "to swash or to make a noise with swordes against tergats."
  14. 70. heartless hinds] A play here on both words; hind, a menial, hind, a female deer; so with a play on hart and heart in Drayton, Polyolbion, v. 228, "heartless deer."
  15. 77. First Off.] So Cambridge editors, who conjecture that line 78 belongs to Citizens.
  16. 77. Clubs] Dyce: "Originally the cry to call forth the London apprentices, who employed their clubs to preserve the public peace." Compare Henry VIII. v. iv. 53 and Titus And. II. i. 37.
  17. 77. bills] a kind of pike or halbert used by constables of the watch, and by foot-soldiers. See Much Ado, III. iii. 44.
  18. 77. partisans] Fairholt: "A sharp two-edged sword placed on the summit of a staff." See Hamlet, i, i, 140.
  19. 82. in spite of me] in despite (scornful defiance) of me. See New Eng. Dict. "despite," 5.
  20. 91. mistemper'd] wrathful, or perhaps, as Schmidt explains, tempered to an ill end.
  21. 97. grave beseeming] Walker would insert hyphen: grave-beseeming, i.e. beseeming gravity; but in 1 Henry VI. v. i. 54, we find "grave ornaments."
  22. 99. Canker'd … hate] The first canker'd means corroded. Compare Bible, James v. 3: "Your gold and silver is cankered," The second means malignant, as in King John, II. i. 194: "A canker'd grandam's will!"
  23. 106. Free-town] This in Brooke's Romeus and Juliet is the name of Capilet's castle; it corresponds to Villa Franca of the Italian story.
  24. 113. prepared] so "prepared sword," Lear, II. i. 53.
  25. 123. Peer'd … east] Q1 has Peept for Peer'd. An echo is noted by Holt White in Summa Totalis, 1607: "Peepes through the purple windowes of the East."
  26. 124. drave] The Q drive = drave is retained by Mommsen, and examples from Spenser and Jonson are cited. See Daniel's revised ed. of Q. Here Q1 reads, "A troubled thought drew me from companie."
  27. 125. sycamore] In Desdemona's song, Othello, iv. iii. 41, the deserted lover sits "sighing by a sycamore tree." Furness quotes W. Westmacott's Scripture Herbal: "Astrologers regard it as one of Venus her trees."
  28. 131. Which … found] Pope and several editors substitute for lines 131, 132, the line (from Q1): "That most are busied, when they're most alone." The meaning of line 131 is Which then sought in chief that place where there was least resort of people. Professor G. Allen conjectures "where more might not be found." "Shakespeare," he says "was not the man (in Romeo and Juliet at least) to let slip the chance of running through the Degrees of Comparison, many, more, most."
  29. 133. his] Theobald adopted Thirlby's conjecture him.
  30. 141. son] A play on sun, line 138, and son is probably intended, "heavy" being opposed to "all-cheering."
  31. 150. other friends] Knight, inserting a comma in text of F, reads others, friends. Daniel observes that Knight's punctuation may be right, but other—frequently used as a plural—would agree with it as well as others.
  32. 155. envious] malignant, spiteful, as often. The image of the worm and bud occurs with like significance in Twelfth Night, II. iv, 114.
  33. 157. the sun] Theobald's emendation has won its way against the reading of Qq, Ff, by virtue of its beauty. Malone, who prints the same in his text, as "a mode of expression not uncommon in Shakespeare's time," supports the sun by a parallel from Daniel's Sonnets:
    "And whilst thou spread'st unto the rising sunne
    The fairest flower that ever saw the light,
    Now joy thy time, before thy sweet be done."
  34. 176. Should … will] Romeo laments that love, though blindfolded, should see how to reach the lover's heart. Staunton needlessly conjectures "set pathways to our will," i.e. prescribe to us our passion. Q1 reads, "Should without lawes give pathwaies to our will," i.e. lawless himself should rule our passions.
  35. 177. dine?] A lover, of course, could not seriously think of his dinner, Romeo wishes to turn aside Benvolio's inquiries.
  36. 179. much to do … with love] Rosaline is of the Capulet family; see I. ii. 70.
  37. 180–185] This conventional characterisation of love by the identity of contradictories could be illustrated endlessly from Elizabethan sonnetteers and earlier poets English and foreign. Romeo speaks otherwise when his heart is deeply moved by Juliet.
  38. 181. created] Perhaps the rhyming create of Q1 is right.
  39. 185. Still-waking] constantly waking.
  40. 189. Why … transgression] The short line is variously eked out by editors. Collier (MS.) reads, "Why such, Benvolio, is."
  41. 191. prest] The word has reference to Benvolio's word oppression, line 188. Might we read to have't oppressed? Q1, which in line 190 reads at my hart, has wouldst propagate to have them prest.
  42. 192. this love] Q1 reads this griefe probably, says Daniel, the better reading.
  43. 195. purged] love purified from the smoke. Johnson plausibly suggested urged; "to urge the fire is a technical term," which occurs in Chapman's Iliad, xxi. Collier (MS.) has puff'd. White fancies a scriptural allusion (Matt. iii. 12) to the fan purging the floor.
  44. 196. a sea … tears] Q1 reads "a sea raging with a lover's teares."
  45. 198. preserving] The line means that love kills and keeps alive, is a bane and an antidote. Hazlitt's persevering misses the point.
  46. 201. lost] I am much inclined to agree with Daniel that Allen's conjecture left is the true reading, but all the old editions have lost. With the long s the words were easily mistaken for each other. Allen notes that in Coriolanus, I. iv. 54, "Thou art left, Marcius," we should probably read "lost." Daniel adds that in Hamlet, III. i. 99, "their perfume lost" (Qq) is misprinted left in Ff.
  47. 203. sadness] seriousness, as often in Shakespeare. In Romeo's groan plays upon the meaning "grief." Q1 reads, "whome she is you love," altered by editors to who.
  48. 203. is] Daniel, retaining from Q, F the note of interrogation after love, reads is't.
  49. 211. mark] Compare Lyly, Gallathea, v. iii.: "But beautie is a faire marke to hit."
  50. 214. proof] armour of proof, impenetrable armour, as in Coriolanus, I. iv. 25.
  51. 215. unharm'd] Collier (MS.) has encharmed, meaning protected by a charm, as a correction of Q, F uncharmd. Steevens supposed that a compliment to Queen Elizabeth was designed. Q1, from which unharm'd is taken, reads 'Gainst Cupid's childish bow.
  52. 220. with … store] I think her store means beauty's store. Rosaline is the possessor of beauty and also of beauty's store, i.e. the reserve of beauty (in posterity) or the propagating power of beauty. Compare Sonnets, xi. , and especially the lines:
    "Let those whom Nature hath not made for store,
    Harsh featureless and rude, barrenly perish."
    If Rosaline dies wedded, beauty indeed dies; but if she dies single, beauty dies and also beauty's store. Theobald read, "with her dies Beauty's store"; but it is not required. Compare also Sonnets, xiv.: "Truth and beauty shall together thrive, If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert," i.e. if you would propagate children.
  53. 222. She … waste] Compare Sonnets, i., for the same idea: "And, tender churl, makest waste in niggarding."
  54. 223. starved] Singer supposes sterv'd (so spelled in Q, F) to mean, as it certainly may, perished, dead.
  55. 225. wisely too fair] Johnson accepts Hanmer's reading too wisely fair.
  56. 233. To call … more] Exquisite in Q, F is in marks of parenthesis. The meaning seems to be, To call her beauty, which is exquisite, yet more, being challenged and put to the test. Malone, taking question to mean conversation (as it often did), explains: "To make her unparalleled beauty more the subject of thought and conversation."
  57. 234. These happy masks] not (as has been suggested) masks worn by ladies at the theatre, but, generally, the masks (of our day).
  58. 242. pay that doctrine] deliver that piece of instruction.