When, in 1859, Andrew Halliday produced, at the Strand, a "Romeo and Juliet Travestie, or the Cup of Cold Poison,"[38] he did better, I need hardly say, than his predecessor. His treatment of the balcony scene, for instance, was at least not vulgar:-- [38] This was the piece in which Miss C. Saunders played Romeo, and Miss Marie Wilton Juliet. Maria Simpson was the Mercutio, J. Clarke the Nurse, Rogers the Apothecary, Bland the Friar, and Miss Bufton the Paris. Romeo _appears on the top of the wall and comes down ladder_. _Rom._ He jests at scars, who never wore a patch, Or mounted garden wall and got a scratch From row of broken bottles. (Juliet _appears on balcony_.) _Jul._ Ha! 'tis he! _Rom._ Juliet! _Jul._ Romeo! ah, yes! 'tis he! _Rom._ Oh, say that name again! _Jul._ Oh, me! oh! Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? _Rom._ Well, 'pon my soul, my love, my sweet, my dear, I haven't got the most remote idea; My father perhaps---- _Jul._ Deny him. _Rom._ Then my mother. She does not know I'm out. _Jul._ Oh, what a bother! _Rom._ What is a bother, sweet? _Jul._ That you, My Romeo, should be a Montague, And I a Capulet--and yet what's in a name? Were you called Jones, I'd love you all the same; You'd be no worse: mark this, I do entreat-- The Serpentine by other name would smell as sweet. _Rom._ Would I were some one else---- _Jul._ But fate assigns A bitter lot, and rules the hardest lines. _Rom._ (_sneezes, and as if with cold in his head_) It's getting chilly, dear, but hear me swear-- By the boon, green cheese of heaven--look there, Shining as brightly as a silver spoon. _Jul._ (_sneezing, and with a cold_) Swear not by the boon--the inconstant boon, Who changes oft, and twelve times in a year Hooks it like a tenant in arrear. _Rom._ What shall I swear by, then, to gain a seat In your affections? _Jul._ Oh, do not swear, my sweet, At all. A good rule we now commence with: We take our seats--the oaths we do dispense with. For the rest, the burlesque followed many lines of the original closely enough,[39] save that, at the end, Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio, Tybalt, and Paris, were all revived, much to the indignation of Shakespeare, a statue of whom appeared, with finger held up in a menacing manner. [39] Juliet was sent to sleep, not by a potion, but by a perusal of the latest work of Mr. Tupper. The piece was well stocked with puns; as, for example:-- Who doubts Mercutio's courage him mistakes: He hates a _broil_, but he will fight for _stakes_. And again:-- By reason of this _bunion_ on my toe, This _pilgrim's progress_ has been very slow.