Unto the white upturned wondring eyes
Of mortalls that fall backe to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy pacing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air."
For remote Scripture parallels see

Deut. xxxiii. 26—“Which rideth upon the heavens for thine helpe, and on the cloudes in his glory."

Ps. lxviii. 4-"Exalt him that rideth upon the heavens."

Ps. civ. 3-"Which maketh the cloudes his chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind. the wings of the wind. Which maketh her spirites

his messengers and a flaming fire his ministers."

Acts i. 11—“Why stand ye gazing into heaven."

Act I. v. 112—

Romeo. "What shall I sweare by?"

Juliet. "Do not sweare at all

Or if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self
Which is the God of my idolatry."

Reference to Matt. v. 24-"But I say unto you, sweare

not at all, nether by heaven for it is Goddes seat. Nor yet by the earth for it is his fote-stole."

But the thought in Juliet's mind, while Romeo makes his promises, is evidently expressed in the words in Hebrews

Heb. vi. 13-" For when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself."

Act II. iii. 4—“ And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels."
For slight similarity see

Isa. xxiv. 20—"Shall reele to and fro like a drunken man."
Act II. iii. 26-

Friar. "Two such opposed Kings encampe them still,

In Man as well as Herbs, grace and rude will :

And where the worser is predominant,

Full soone the canker death eates up that plant."

For parallels in thought and word see

Gal. v. 17-"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other."

Rom. vi. 12-"Let not sinne reigne therefore in your mortal body."

Rom. vi. 14-"For ye are not under the Law but under grace."

Rom. vi. 23-"For the wages of sin is death."

Ecclus. x. 20-Where the Friar's illustrations from plant life are paralleled :

“There is a seede of man which is an honourable seede: the honourable seed are they that feare the Lord: there is a seede of man which is without honour: the seede without honour are they that transgresse the commandments of the Lorde: it is a seed that remaineth which feareth the Lord, and a faire plant that love him: but they are a seed without honour that despise the law and a deceivable seede that breake the commandements."

Rom. vii. 18-"For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to wil is present with me, but I finde no meanes to performe that which is good." 21-"I find then, that when I would do good I am thus yoked, that evil is present with me." 24-" O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death."

Genevan Note—“It is to be noted, that one self same man is said to wil and not to wil, in divers respects: to wit, he is said to wil, in that, that he is regenerate by grace: and not to will, in that, that he is not regenerate, or in that, that he is such an one as he is borne. But because the part which is regenerate at length becommeth conqueror," etc.

Act II. iii. 85-" Doth grace for grace and love for love allow."

Scriptural words—

John i. 16-" And of his fulnesse have al we received and grace for grace."

Act II. vi. 10—

"These violent delights have violent ends. .
The sweetest honey

Is loathsome in his owne deliciousnesse,

And in the taste confounds the appetite

Therefore Love moderately, long Love doth so
Too swift arrives as tardie as too slow."

For Scripture parallels see

Matt. xxvi. 52-" All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."

Prov. xxv. 16—“If thou have founde honey, eate that is sufficient for thee, lest thou be overfull and vomit it."

Genevan Note-"Use moderately the pleasures of this world."

Prov. xxvii. 7-"The person that is full, despiseth an honycombe; but unto the hungry soule every bitter thing is sweete."

Ecclus. xi. II-"There is some man that laboureth and taketh paine, and the more he hasteth, the more he wanteth."

Act II. vi. 24

"Ah, Juliet: if the measure of thy joy

Be heap'd like mine."

Scriptural idea and words

Luke vi. 38-"A good measure, pressed downe, shaken together and running over."

Act II. vi. 38-" Till holy church incorporate two in one."

Gen. ii. 24-"Therefore shal man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife and they shalbe one flesh."

Act III. i. 34-Benvolio. "An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man should buy the fee-simple of my life for an hour and a quarter."

Mercutio. "The fee-simple? O simple!"

Ben. "By my head, here come the Capulets."

Mer. "By my heel, I care not."

An interesting and suggestive use of Biblical knowledge;

the words of the oaths are taken from the curse of

the serpent, who was the beginner of all strife, bloodshed and enmity.

Gen. iii. 15-"I will also put enimitie betweene thee and the woman, and betweene thy seede and her seede. He shal breake thine head, and thou shalt bruise his heele."

See also

Matt. v. 36—" Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black."

Act III. i. 59-"Well, peace be with you, sir."

Biblical phrase; compare Judges xix. 20-" Peace be with thee."

Act III. i. 120

"O Romeo, Romeo! brave Mercutio's dead;
That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds

Which too untimely here did scorn the earth."
Scriptural thought—

Eccles. xii. 7-" And dust returne to the earth as it was, and

the spirite returne to God that gave it."

Act III. i. 184

Lady Cap. "I beg for justice, which thou, prince, must give: Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live."

Prince. "Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio;

Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?" Montague. "Not Romeo, prince, he was Mercutio's friend, His fault concludes, but what the Law should end, The life of Tybalt."

Reference to the Scriptural law of life for life—

Gen. ix. 6—"Whoso sheadeth man's blood, by man shall his blood bee shead."

Ezek. xxxv. 6—“Therefore as I live, sayth the Lord God, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee."

Num. xxxv. 29, 30-"So these things shall be a lawe of judgment unto you, throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Whosoever killeth any person the judge shall slay the murtherer." Act III. i. 196—

"I will be deaf to pleading and excuses,

Nor tears, nor prayers, shall purchase out abuses,
Therefore use none."

For Scripture parallel see

Isa. i. 15.-" And when you shal stretch out your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you, and though yee make many prayers, I wil not heare: for your hands are full of blood."

Act III. ii. I—

Juliet. "Gallop apace, you fiery footed steedes,

Towards Phoebus lodging; such a wagoner
As Phaeton would whip you to the West,
And bring in cloudie night immediately.
Spred thy close curtaine, Love-performing night
That run-awayes eyes may wincke, and Romeo
Leape to these armes, untalkt of and unseene."

Professor Dowden calls the phrase " run-awayes eyes" the
chief critical crux of the play, and says:
I add my
stone to this cairn under which the meaning lies
buried. In the Merchant of Venice, Act. II. vi.
there is an echo of the sense and of the language of
this passage which confirms the reading Runnawayes.
Gratiano and Salarino have spoken of the eagerness
of lovers outrunning time. This set Shakespeare
thinking of the passage in Romeo and Juliet.
Jessica, in her boy's disguise, says :-

"Love is blind, and lovers cannot see
The pretty follies that themselves commit.'"

For the close night doth play the runaway.' Compare the first ten lines of Juliet's soliloquy and observe the echo of sense and speech (Mind and Art, p. 124 note).

But Jessica is ashamed to appear in her disguise of male clothing :

"I am much ashamed of my exchange

But love is blind, and lovers cannot see

The pretty follies that themselves commit:

For if they could, Cupid himself would blush

To see me thus transformed to a boy."

Her lover replies that she must be her own torch-bearer, but Jessica shrinks from holding the light to her shame and says:

“Why, tis an office of discovery, love;

And I should be obscured."

Lorenzo. "So are you, sweet,

Even in the lovely garnish of a boy,

But come at once;

For the close night doth play the runaway."

That is, the night itself has eyes to see, and thus the disguise may be penetrated. In Romeo and Juliet the idea is the same; there are eyes in the darkness, but Juliet prays that the gloom may be so intense that these eyes may be caused to wink and Romeo's coming be unseen and unknown. The "eagerness