How would (I fay) mine eyes be bleffed By looking on thee in the living day, When in dead night thy fair imperfect th Through heavy fleep on fightlefs eyes dot All days are nights to fee, till I fee t And nights, bright days, when dream

me.

XLIV.

If the dull fubftance of my flesh were thoug
Injurious distance should not stop my way;
For then, defpite of space, I would be bro
From limits far remote, where thou doft f
No matter then, although my foot did ftan
Upon the fartheft earth remov'd from thee
For nimble thought can jump both fea and
As foon as think the place where he would
But ah! thought kills me, that I am not t
To leap large lengths of miles, when thou
But that, fo much of earth and water wroug
I must attend time's leifure with my moan

7thy fair imperfect shade-] The old copy re two words, it has been already obferved, are frequent thefe Sonnets. MALONE.

All days are nights to fee,] We should, perhaps,
All days are nights to me.

The compofitor might have caught the word fee fro

line.

MALONE.

As, fair to fee (an expreffion which occurs in a h ballads) fignifies fair to fight, fo, all days are nights t days are gloomy to behold, i. e. look like nights. STE 9-do fbow thee me.] That is, do fhow thee to me.

1

-can jump both fea and land,] Jump has here it fication. In Shakspeare it often fignifies to bazar meaning in the well known paffage in Macbeth:

(6 We'd jump the life to come." MALONE. 2-fo much of earth and water wrought,] i. e. bein compounded of thefe two ponderous elements. Thus, Cleopatra:

"I am air and fire, my other elements

"I give to bafer life." STEEVENS. Again, in King Henry V: "He is pure air and fire elements of earth and water never appear in him,"

MA

Receiving nought by elements fo flow
But heavy tears, badges of either's woe:

XLV.

The other two, flight air and purging fire,
Are both with thee, wherever I abide;
The firft my thought, the other my defire,
Thefe prefent-abfent with fwift motion flide.
For when thefe quicker elements are gone
In tender embaffy of love to thee,

My life, being made of four3, with two alone
Sinks down to death, opprefs'd with melancholy;
Until life's compofition be recur'd

By thofe fwift meffengers return'd from thee,
Who even but now come back again, assur'd
Of thy fair health, recounting it to me:

This told, I joy; but then no longer glad,
I fend them back again, and ftraight grow fad.

XLVI.

Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war 5,
How to divide the conquest of thy fight;
Mine eye my heart thy picture's fight would bar",
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
My heart doth plead, that thou in him doft lie,
(A closet never pierc'd with cryftal eyes,)
But the defendant doth that plea deny,
And fays in him thy fair appearance lies7.

3 My life, being made of four,-] So, in Twelfth Night: "Does not our life confift of the four elements ?" STEEVENS. their fair health.

4 Of thy fair bealth,] The old copy has

MALONE.

5 Mine eye and beart are at a mortal war,] So, in a paffage in Golding's Tranflation of Ovid, 1576, which our authour has imitated in The Tempeft, p. 87:

"Among the earth-bred brothers you a mortal war did fet."

MALONE.

6-thy picture's fight would bar,] Here alfo their was printed inAtead of thy. MALONE.

7-thy fair appearance lies.] The quarto has their. In this Sonnet this mistake has happened four times. MALONE.

Το

To 'cide this title is impannelled $
A queft of thoughts, all tenants to the
And by their verdict is determined
The clear eye's moiety', and the dear h
As thus; mine eye's due is thine outw
And my heart's right thine inward lov

XLVII.
Betwixt mine eye
And each doth good turns now unto the
and heart a league is
When that mine eye is famifh'd for a look
Or heart in love with fighs himself doth f
With my love's picture then my eye doth
And to the painted banquet bids my hear
Another time mine eye is my heart's gue
And in his thoughts of love doth fhare a p
So, either by thy picture or my love 3,
Thyfelf away art prefent ftill with me ;
For thou not farther than my thoughts can
And I am still with them, and they with t

4

Or, if they fleep, thy picture in my fight
Awakes my heart to heart's and eye's de

s To 'cide this title is impannelled-] To 'cide, for t
copy reads fide. MALONE.

9 A quest of thoughts,-] An inqueft or jury. Richard III:

"What lawful queft have given their verdict u "Unto the frowning judge?" MALONE. The clear eye's moiety,] Moiety in ancient la any portion of a thing, though the whole may not be See p. 81, n. *. MALONE.

When that mine eye is famifh'd for a look,] So, in Errors:

"While I at home farve for a merry look." M -bids my beart:] i. e. invites my heart. See V n. 3. MALONE.

3 So, either by thy picture or my love,] The modern ed intelligibly:

So either by the picture of my love. MALONE. 4 Thyfelf away art prefent-] i. e. Thyfelf, though fent, &c. The old copy is here evidently corrupt. ftead of art. MALONE.

It

XLVIII.

How careful was I, when I took my way,
Each trifle under trueft bars to thrust;
That, to my use, it might unused stay
From hands of falfhood, in fure wards of truft!
But thou, to whom my jewels trifles are *,
Moft worthy comfort, now my greatest grief,
Thou, beft of deareft, and mine only care,
Art left the prey of every vulgar thief.
Thee have I not lock'd up in any cheft,
Save where thou art not, though I feel thou art,
Within the gentle clofure of my breafts,

From whence at pleasure thou may't come and part;
And even thence thou wilt be stolen, I fear,
For truth proves thievish for a prize fo dear".

XLIX.

Against that time, if ever that time come,
When I fhall fee thee frown on my defects,
Whenas thy love hath caft his utmost fum",
Call'd to that audit by advis'd refpects;
Against that time, when thou shalt ftrangely pafs,
And fcarcely greet me with that fun, thine eye;
When love, converted from the thing it was,
Shall reafons find of fettled gravity &;

But thou, to whom my jewels trifles are,] We have the fame allufion in King Richard 11:

-Every tedious ftride I make,

"Will but remember me what a deal of world

"I wander from the jewels that I love." MALONE.

5 Within the gentle clofure of my breaft,] So, in K. Richard III: "Within the guilty clofure of thy walls." STEEVENS. 6 For truth proves thievith for a prize fo dear.] So, in Venus and Adonis :

"Rich preys make rich men thieves." C.

7 Whenas thy love bath caft bis utmost fum,] Whenas, in ancient language, was fynonymous to when. MALONE.

When love, converted from the thing it was,

Shall reafons find of fettled gravity;] A fentiment fomewhat fimilar, ccurs in Julius Cæfar:

"When love begins to ficken and decay,

"It useth an enforced ceremony." STEEVENS.

Against that time do I enfconce me here,
Within the knowledge of mine own defert,
And this my hand against myfelf uprear,
To guard the lawful reafons on thy part:
To leave poor me thou hast the strength of laws,
Since, why to love, I can allege no cause.

L.

How heavy do I journey on the way,

When what I feek,-my weary travel's end,-
Doth teach that eafe and that repose to say,
Thus far the miles are meafur'd from thy friend'!
The beaft that bears me, tired with my woe,
Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me,
As if by fome inftinct the wretch did know
His rider lov'd not speed, being made from thee:
The bloody fpur cannot provoke him on
That fometimes anger thrufts into his hide;
Which heavily he answers with a groan,
More fharp to me than fpurring to his fide;

For that fame groan doth put this in my mind,-
My grief lies onward, and my joy behind.

LI.

Thus can my love excufe the flow offence
Of my dull bearer, when from thee I speed:

From where thou art why fhould I hafte me thence?
Till I return, of pofting is no need.

9 do I enfconce me bere,] 1 fortify myself. A fconce was a fpecies of fortification. See Vol. II. p. 151. n. 3. MALONE.

Thus far the miles are meafur'd from thy friend!] So, in one of our author's plays:

"Measuring our fteps from a departed friend." STEEVENS. See alfo the paflage quoted on the other fide, in n. *. MALONE. 2 Plods dully on,-] The quarto reads-Plods duly on. The con text fupports the reading that I have fubftituted. So, in the next Sonnet, where the fame thought is purfued :

"Thus can my love excufe the flow offence
"Of my dull bearer." MALONE.

O, what,