14. _All my hopes but she._ Capulet seems to imply here that he has lost some children; but cf. iii. 5. 163 below.
15. _My earth._ My world or my life; rather than my lands, my landed property, as some explain it. It was apparently suggested by the _earth_ of the preceding line.
17. _My will_, etc. My will is subordinate to her consent. The old man talks very differently in iii. 5 below.
25. _Dark heaven._ The darkness of night. Cf. i. 5. 47 below.
26. _Young men._ Malone compares _Sonn._ 98. 2:--
"When proud-pied April dress'd in all his trim Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing."
29. _Female._ The quartos (except the 1st) and 1st folio have the curious misprint "fennell."
30. _Inherit._ Possess; as in _Temp._ iv. 1. 154, _Rich. II._ ii. 1. 83, _Cymb._ iii. 2. 63, etc.
32. _Which on more view_, etc. A perplexing line for which many emendations have been suggested. With the reading in the text the meaning seems to be: _which one_ (referring to _her of most merit_), after your further inspection of the many, my daughter (who is one of the number) may prove to be,--one in number, though one is no number. The quibble at the end alludes to the old proverb that "one is no number." Cf. _Sonn._ 136. 8: "Among a number one is reckon'd none." Dowden points thus: "Which on more view of, many--mine being one--May," etc., and explains thus: "On more view of whom (that is, the lady of most merit), many (other ladies)--and my daughter among them--may stand in a count of heads, but in estimation (_reckoning_, with a play on the word) none can hold a place." The general sense of the passage is clear, whatever reading or analysis we adopt. Capulet says in substance: Come to my house to-night, and decide whom you like best of the beauties gathered there; if Juliet be the one, well and good. He has already told Paris that she shall be his if he can gain her love, but discreetly suggests that he look more carefully at the "fresh female buds" of Verona before plucking one to wear on his heart.
36. _Written there._ Cf. Brooke's poem:--
"No Lady fayre or fowle was in Verona towne: No knight or gentleman of high or lowe renowne: But Capilet himselfe hath byd vnto his feast: Or by his name in paper sent, appoynted as a geast."