Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; 12

The which if you with patient ears attend,

What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

[Exit.]

Footnotes to the Prologue

1 Chorus; cf. n.

3 mutiny: contention

4 civil: of citizens

6 star-cross'd: thwarted by destiny; cf. n.

9 passage: course

12 traffic: business

14 miss: be wanting

Prologue

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (1917)William Shakespeare, edited by Willard Higley DurhamThe Text: Act I

Act II

Notes originally placed at the bottom of each page appear below, following Act I. Where these notes gloss a word in the text, the gloss can also be found by hovering over the text.

Where these notes refer to an end note (cf. n. confer notam; "consult note"), a link to the accompanying end note is provided from the Footnotes section. The end notes accompanying Act I begin on page 119 of the original volume.

Layout 2

ACT FIRST

Scene One

[Verona. A Public Place]

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

Sam. Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry

coals.

Gre. No, for then we should be colliers.

Sam. I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw.

Gre. Ay, while you live, draw your neck out

o' the collar. 6

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. 10

Gre. To move is to stir, and to be valiant is

to stand; therefore, if thou art moved, thou

runnest away.

Sam. A dog of that house shall move me to

stand: I will take the wall of any man or maid