126. [Catling.] A small string of catgut. Cf. T. and C. iii. 3. 306: "unless the fiddler Apollo get his sinews to make catlings on."
132. [Pretty.] Some of the German critics are troubled by pretty, because Peter does not intend to praise; and irony, they say, would be out of place. It is simply a jocose patronizing expression = That's not bad in its way, but you haven't hit it. The rebeck was a kind of three-stringed fiddle. Cf. Milton, L'All. 94: "And the jocund rebecks sound," etc.
141. [Pestilent.] Often used in an opprobrious sense; as in Lear, i. 4. 127: "A pestilent gall to me!" Oth. ii. 1. 252: "A pestilent complete knave," etc.
142. [Jack.] See on iii. 1. 12 above; and for stay = wait for, on ii. 5. 36.
ACT V
Scene. I.—
1. [The flattering truth.] This is apparently = that which bears the flattering semblance of truth. It has perplexed some of the critics, but their emendations do not better it. For flattering in the sense of illusive, cf. ii. 2. 141. Some have wondered that S. here makes the presentiment a hopeful one; but as a writer in the Cornhill Magazine (October, 1866) remarks, the presentiment was true, but Romeo did not trust it. Had he done so, his fate would not have been so tragic.
3. [My bosom's lord.] That is, my heart; not Love, or Cupid, as some would make it. Lines 3-5 seem to me only a highly poetical description of the strange new cheerfulness and hopefulness he feels—a reaction from his former depression which is like his dream of rising from the dead an emperor.
10. [Ah me!] See on Ay me! ii. 1. 10 above. It may be a misprint for "Ay me!" here.