64. [Rest you merry!] For the full form, God rest you merry! (= God keep you merry), cf. A.Y.L. v. 1. 65, etc. It was a common form of salutation at meeting, and oftener at parting. Here the servant is about to leave, thinking that Romeo is merely jesting with him. Cf. 79 below.
66-69. [Signior Martino,] etc. Probably meant to be prose, but some editors make bad verse of it.
69. [Mercutio.] Mercutio here figures among the invited guests, although we find him always associating with the young men of the Montague family. He is the prince's "kinsman," and apparently on terms of acquaintance with both the rival houses, though more intimate with the Montagues than with the Capulets.
71. [Rosaline.] This shows that Rosaline is a Capulet.
74. [Up.] Dowden plausibly prints "Up—," assuming that "Romeo eagerly interrupts the servant, who would have said 'Up to our house.'"
82. [Crush a cup,] etc. A common expression in the old plays. We still say "crack a bottle."
87. [Unattainted.] Unprejudiced, impartial; used by S. only here.
91. [Fires.] The early eds. have "fire," which White retains as an admissible rhyme in Shakespeare's day.
92. [Who often drown'd,] etc. Alluding to the old notion that if a witch were thrown into the water she would not sink. King James, in his Dæmonology, says: "It appeares that God hath appointed for a supernatural signe of the monstrous impietie of witches, that the water shall refuse to receive them in her bosom that have shaken off them the sacred water of baptism, and wilfully refused the benefit thereof."