Instead of love's coy touch 2, fhall rudely tear thee;
That done, defpitefully I mean to bear thee

Unto the bafe bed of fome rafcal groom,
To be thy partner in this fhameful doom.

This faid, he fets his foot upon the light,
For light and luft are deadly enemies:
Shame folded up in blind concealing night,
When most unseen, then most doth tyrannize.
The wolf hath feiz'd his prey, the poor lamb cries*;
Till with her own white fleece her voice controll'd
Entombs her outcry in her lips' fweet fold:

For with the nightly linen that she wears
He pens her piteous clamours in her head;
Cooling his hot face in the chastest tears
That ever modeft eyes with forrow shed.
O, that prone luft fhould ftain fo pure a beds!
The fpots whereof could weeping purify,
Her tears fhould drop on them perpetually.

2 —love's coy touch,-] i. e. the delicate, the refpectful approach of love. STEEVENS.

3 The wolf bath feix'd his prey, the poor lamb cries ;]

"Ila nihil:

"Sed tremit, ut quondam ftabulis deprenfa relictis,

"Parva fub infefto cum jacet agna lupo." Ovid.

I have never feen any tranflation of the Fafti fo old as the time of Shakspeare; but Mr. Coxeter in his manufcript notes mentions one printed about the year 1570. MALONE.

4 For with the nightly lined that he wears,] Thus the first quarto. The octavo, 1616, reads, unintelligibly:

For with the mighty linen, &c.

MALONE.

5 0, that prone luft should ftain fo pure a bed!] Thus the first quarto. The edition of 1600 instead of prone has proud. That of 1616 and the modern copies foul. Prone is headftrong, forward, prompt. In Meafure for Measure it is ufed in fomewhat a fimilar sense:

-in her youth

"There is a prone and fpeechlefs dialect." MALONE. Thus, more appofitely, in Cymbeline: "Unless a man would marry a gallows, and beget young gibbets, I never faw one so prone."

STELVENS.

But

But she hath loft a dearer thing than life", And he hath won what he would lofe again. This forced league doth force a further ftrife This momentary joy breeds months of pain; This hot defire converts to cold difdain:

Pure chastity is rifled of her store,

And luft, the thief, far poorer than before.

Look, as the full-fed hound or gorged hawk,
Unapt for tender smell or speedy flight,
Make flow purfuit, or altogether balk
The prey wherein by nature they delight;
So furfeit-taking Tarquin fares this night:
His tafte delicious, in digeftion fouring,
Devours his will, that liv'd by foul devouri

O deeper fin than bottomlefs conceit
Can comprehend in ftill imagination!
Drunken defire muft vomit his receipt",
Ere he can fee his own abomination.
While luft is in his pride, no exclamation

Can curb his heat, or rein his rash defire,
Till, like a jade, felf-will himself doth tire

And then with lank and lean difcolour'd cheel
With heavy eye, knit brow, and ftrengthlefs p
Feeble defire, all recreant, poor, and meek,
Like to a bankrupt beggar wails his cafe:
The flesh being proud, defire doth fight with gr
For there it revels; and when that decays,
The guilty rebel for remiffion prays.

But fhe bath loft, &c.] Shakspeare has in this inftance delicacy recommended by Vida:

"Speluncam Dido dux et Trojanus eandem "Deveniant, pudor ulterius nihil addere curet." ST 7 Drunken defire muft vomit bis receipt,] So, in Cymbeline "To make defire vomit emptiness." STEEVENS. Till, like a jade, felf will bimfelf doth tire.] So, in K, I -Anger is like

"A full-bot borfe, who being allow'd his way,
Self-mettle tires bim." STEEVENS.

So fares it with this faultful lord of Rome,
Who this accomplishment fo hotly chas'd;
For now against himself he founds this doom,-
That through the length of times he ftands difgrac'd:
Befides, his foul's fair temple is defac'd;

To whofe weak ruins mufter troops of cares,
To ask the spotted princefs how the fares.

She fays, her fubjects with foul infurrection.
Have batter'd down her confecrated wall,
And by their mortal fault brought in fubjection
Her immortality, and made her thrall

To living death, and pain perpetual:

Which in her prefcience the controlled ftill,
But her fore-fight could not fore-ftall their will.

Even in this thought, through the dark night he ftealeth,
A captive victor, that hath loft in gain';

Bearing away the wound that nothing healeth,
The fear that will, defpite of cure, remain;
Leaving his fpoil? perplex'd in greater pain.
She bears the load of luft he left behind,
And he the burthen of a guilty mind.

He, like a theevifh dog, creeps fadly thence,
She like a wearied lamb lies panting there;
He fcouls, and hates himself for his offence,
She defperate, with her nails her flesh doth tear;
He faintly flies, sweating with guilty fear;

9-bis foul's fair temple is defac'd;] So, in Macbeth:
"Moft facrilegeous murder hath broke ope

"The lord's anointed temple, and stole thence
"The life of the building." MALONE.

1-that bath loft in gain;] So, in Romeo and Juliet:

"-teach me how to lofe a winning match-" STEEVENS.

2 Leaving bis fpoil-] That is, Lucretia. So, in Troilus and Creffida

-Set them down

"For fluttish Spoils of opportunity,

And daughters of the game." MALONE,

She

She ftays, exclaiming on the direful night
He runs, and chides his vanish'd, loath'd,

He thence departs a heavy convertite 3,
She there remains a hopeless caft-away 4:
He in his speed looks for the morning light,
She prays the never may behold the day:
For day, quoth fhe, night's fcapes doth open
And my true eyes have never practis'd how
To cloke offences with a cunning brow.

They think not but that every eye can fee
The fame difgrace which they themfelve's beh
And therefore would they ftill in darkness be
To have their unfeen fin remain untold;
For they their guilt with weeping will unfold,
And grave, like water that doth eat in fteel
Upon my cheeks what helplefs fhame I feel

Here the exclaims againft repofe and reft,
And bids her eyes hereafter ftill be blind?.
She wakes her heart by beating on her breaft,

3 He thence departs a beavy convertite,] A convertite Our authour has the fame expreffion in King Jobn:

"But, fince you are a gentle convertite,

"My tongue fhall hush again this storm of war.". 4-a bopeless caft-away:] So, in Antony and Cleopatra "That ever I should call thee caft-away!" STE 5 For day, quoth fhe, night's fcapes doth open lay;] So, in P. II.

The gaudy, blabbing, and remorfeful day." ST A paffage in The Winter's Tale may ferve to afcertain th night's fcapes here: "Mercy on's, a barne! a very pretty fome fcape: though I am not very bookish, I can read wa woman in the fcape."

Efcapium is a barbarous Latin word, fignifying what con or accident. MALONE.

6-in darkness be,] The octavo 1616, and the modern e without authority:

-they ftill in darknefs lie. MALONE.

7 Hexe fhe exclaims against repofe and reft,

And bids ber eyes bereafter fill be blind.] This paffag

And bids it leap from thence, where it may find
Some purer cheft, to close fo pure a mind 3.

Frantick with grief thus breathes the forth her spite
Against the unfeen fecrecy of night.

O, comfort-killing night, image of hell?!
Dim regifter and notary of fhame!

Black ftage for tragedies and murders fell1!
Vaft fin-concealing chaos! nurfe of blame!
Blind muffled bawd! dark harbour for defame!
Grim cave of death, whispering confpirator
With close-tongu'd treafon and the ravifher!

O, hateful, vaporous, and foggy night,
Since thou art guilty of my cureless crime,
Mufter thy mifts to meet the eastern light,
Make war against proportion'd course of time!
Or if thou wilt permit the fun to climb

His wonted height, yet ere he go to bed,
Knit poisonous clouds about his golden head.

With rotten damps ravifh the morning air;
Let their exhal'd unwholesome breaths make fick
The life of purity, the fupreme fair,

Ere

to confirm the propriety of Dr. Johnfon's emendation in Cymbeline Act III. fc. iv.

"I'll wake mine eye-balls blind firft." STEEVENS.

8 She wakes ber heart by beating on ber breast,

And bids it leap from thence, where it may find

Some purer cheft, to close so pure a mind."] So in King Richard II. "A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up cheft

"Is a bold fpirit in a loyal breaft." MALONE.

90 comfort-killing night! image of hell!] So, in King Henry V:

"Never fees horrid night, the child of bell." STEEVENS.

1 Black ftage for tragedies-] In our authour's time, I believe, the ftage was hung with black, when tragedies were performed. The hanging however was, I fuppofe, no more than one piece of black baize placed at the back of the ftage, in the room of the tapestry which was the common decoration when comedies were acted. See the Account of the Ancient English Theatres, Vol. I. MALONE.

2 Let their exhal'd unwholefome breaths make fick

The life of purity, the fupreme fair,] So, in King Lear: VOL. X.

K

66 -infea