215. _In that sparing makes huge waste._ Cf. _Sonn._ 1. 12: "And, tender churl, makes waste in niggarding."
216. _Starv'd._ The early eds. (except the 4th folio) have "sterv'd," the old form of the word, found in several other passages in the folio (_M. of V._ iv. 1. 138, _Cor._ iv. 2. 51, etc.) and rhyming with _deserve_ in _Cor._ ii. 3. 120. Cf. Spenser, _F.Q._ iv. 1. 4:--
"Untill such time as noble Britomart Released her, that else was like to sterve Through cruell knife that her deare heart did kerve." There it means to die (its original sense), as in _Hen. VII._ v. 3. 132.
226. _To call hers, exquisite._ "That is, to call hers, which is exquisite, the more into my remembrance and contemplation" (Heath); or "to make her unparalleled beauty more the subject of thought and conversation" (Malone). For _question_ = conversation, cf. _A.Y.L._ iii. 4. 39, v. 4. 167, etc. But why may not _question_ repeat the idea of _examine_? Benvolio says, "Examine other beauties;" Romeo replies, in substance, that the result of the examination will only be to prove her beauty superior to theirs and therefore the more extraordinary.
227. _These happy masks._ Steevens took this to refer to "the masks worn by female spectators of the play;" but it is probably = the masks worn nowadays. They are called _happy_ as "being privileged to touch the sweet countenances beneath" (Clarke).
229. _Strucken._ The early eds. have "strucken" or "strooken." S. also uses _struck_ (or _strook_) and _stricken_ as the participle.
231. _Passing._ Often used adverbially but only before adjectives and adverbs. Cf. _L. L. L._ iv. 3. 103, _Much Ado_, ii. 1. 84, etc.
235. _Pay that doctrine._ Give that instruction. Cf. _L. L. L._ iv. 3. 350: "From women's eyes this doctrine I derive;" _A. and C._ v. 2. 31:--
"I hourly learn A doctrine of obedience," etc.
SCENE II.--4. _Reckoning._ Estimation, reputation.
9. _Fourteen years._ In Brooke's poem her father says, "Scarce saw she yet full xvi. yeres;" and in Paynter's novel "as yet shee is not attayned to the age of xviii. yeares."
13. _Made._ The 1st quarto has "maried," which is followed by some editors. The antithesis of _make_ and _mar_ is a very common one in S. Cf. ii. 4. 110 below: "that God hath made for himself to mar." See also _L. L. L._ iv. 3. 191, _M.N.D._ i. 2. 39, _A.Y.L._ i. 1. 34, _T. of S._ iv. 3. 97, _Macb._ ii. 3. 36, _Oth._ v. 1. 4, etc. On the other hand, examples of the opposition of _married_ and _marred_ are not uncommon in Elizabethan writers. Cf. _A.W._ ii. 3. 315: "A young man married is a man that's marr'd."