engthened by the
feelings of a long-trusted servant, whose sympathy with the mother's
affections gives her privileges and rank in the household; and observe the
mode of connection by accidents of time and place, and the childlike
fondness of repetition in a second childhood, and also that happy humble,
ducking under, yet constant resurgence against, the check of her
superiors!--

"Yes, madam!--Yet I cannot choose but laugh," &c.

In the fourth scene we have Mercutio introduced to us. O! how shall I
describe that exquisite ebullience and overflow of youthful life, wafted
on over the laughing waves of pleasure and prosperity, as a wanton beauty
that distorts the face on which she knows her lover is gazing enraptured,
and wrinkles her forehead in the triumph of its smoothness! Wit ever
wakeful, fancy busy and procreative as an insect, courage, an easy mind
that, without cares of its own, is at once disposed to laugh away those of
others, and yet to be interested in them,--these and all congenial
qualities, melting into the common _copula_ of them all, the man of rank
and the gentleman, with all its excellencies and all its weaknesses,
constitute the character of Mercutio!

Act i. sc. 5.--

"_Tyb._ It fits when such a villain is a guest;
I'll not endure him.

_Cap._ He shall be endur'd.
What, goodman boy!--I say, he shall:--Go to;--
Am I the master here, or you?--Go to.
You'll not endure him!--God shall mend my soul--
You'll make a mutiny among my guests!
You will set cock-a-hoop! you'll be the man!

_Tyb._ Why, uncle, 'tis a shame.

_Cap._ Go to, go to,
You are a saucy boy!" &c.

How admirable is the old man's impetuosity at once contrasting, yet
harmonised, with young Tybalt's quarrelsome violence! But it would be
endless to repeat observations of this sort. Every leaf is different on an
oak tree; but still we can only say--our tongues defrauding our eyes-- "This
is another oak-leaf!"

Act ii. sc. 2. The garden scene.

Take notice in this enchanting scene of the contrast of Romeo's love with
his former fancy; and weigh the skill shown in justifying him from his
inconstancy by making us feel the difference of his passion. Yet this,
too, is a love in, although not merely of, the imagination.

_Ib._--

"_Jul._ Well, do not swear; although I joy in thee,
I have no joy in this contract to-night:
It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden," &c.

With love, pure love, there is always an anxiety for the safety