How far a modern quill doth come to
Speaking of worth, what worth in you
This filence for my fin you did impute
Which fhall be moft my glory, being d
For I impair not beauty, being mute,
When others would give life, and brin
Their lives more life in one of your
Than both your poets can in praise
LXXXIV.

Who is it that fays moft? which can fa
Than this rich praife-that you alone
In whofe confine immured is the store,
Which fhould example where your equ
Lean penury within that pen doth dwel
That to his fubject lends not fome small
But he that writes of you, if he can tell
That you are you, fo dignifies his ftory,
Let him but copy what in you is writ,
Not making worse what nature made fo
And fuch a counter-part thall fame his
Making his ftile admired every where.

You to your beauteous bleffings add a
Being fond on praife, which makes you

5 How far a modern quill deth come too short,
fignified common or trite. See Vol. III. p. 163, n.
6-what worth in you doth grow.] We might
doth grow.
MALONE.

-that worth in

you

i. e. that worth, which, &c.

7 When others would give life, and bring a tomb. deavour to celebrate your character, while in fact the meanness of their compofitions. MALONE.

8 Being fond on praife, which makes your praifes fond of fuch panegyrick as debafes what is praife stead of exalting it. On in ancient books is often may mean, "behaving foolishly on receiving praife. Fond on was certainly used by Shakspeare for fond Night:

-my mafter loves her dearly;

"And I, poor monster, fond as much on hin Again, in Holland's tranflation of Suetonius, fol "He was enamoured alfo upon queenes." MALONE

LXXXV.

My tongue-ty'd mufe in manners holds her still,
While comments of your praife, richly compil'd,
Referve their character with golden quill,
And precious phrafe by all the mufes fil'd.

I think good thoughts, whilft others write good words,
And, like unletter'd clerk, ftill cry Amen
To every hymn that able spirit affords,
In polish'd form of well-refined pen.
Hearing you prais'd, I fay, 'tis fo, 'tis true,
And to the most of praife add fomething more;
But that is in my thought, whofe love to you,
Though words come hindmoft, holds his rank before.
Then others for the breath of words respect,
Me for my dumb thoughts, fpeaking in effect.

LXXXVI.

Was it the proud full fail of his great verse,
Bound for the prize of all-too-precious you,
That did my ripe thoughts in my brain inherfe,
Making their tomb the womb wherein they grew1?
Was it his fpirit, by fpirits taught to write
Above a mortal pitch, that ftruck me dead?
No, neither he, nor his compeers by night
Giving him aid, my verfe aftonished.
He, nor that affable familiar ghost,

Which nightly gulls him with intelligence';,

9 Referve their character with golden quill,] Referve has here the fenfe of preferve. See p. 206, n. 2. MALONE.

1 Making their tomb the womb wherein they grew ?] So, in Rome and Juliet:

"The earth, that's nature's mother, is her tomb
"What is her burying grave, that is her womb."

Again, in Pericles:

For he's their parent, and he is their grave."

So alfo, Milton:

"The womb of nature, and perhaps her grave." MALONE. 2-that affable familiar gboft

Which nightly gulls bim with intelligence ;] Alluding perhaps to the celebrated Dr. Dee's pretended intercourfe with an angel, and other familiar fpirits. STEEVENS.

As victors, of my filence cannot boast;
I was not fick of any fear from thence :
But when your countenance fil'd up his line 3,
Then lack'd I matter; that enfeebled mine.

LXXXVII.

Farewel! thou art too dear for my poffeffing,
And like enough thou know'ft thy estimate:
The charter of thy worth gives thee releafing;
My bonds in thee are all determinate *.
For how do I hold thee but by thy granting?
And for that riches where is my deferving?
The caufe of this fair gift in me is wanting,
And fo my patent back again is fwerving.
Thyfelf thou gav'ft, thy own worth then not knowing,
Or me, to whom thou gav'ft it, elfe miftaking;
So thy great gift, upon mifprifion growing,
Comes home again, on better judgment making.
Thus have I had thee, as a dream doth flatter,
In fleep a king 5, but waking, no fuch matter.

LXXXVIII.

When thou shalt be difpos'd to fet me light,
And place my merit in the eye of Scorn",
Upon thy fide against myfelf I'll fight,

And prove thee virtuous, though thou art forfworn.
With mine own weaknefs being beft acquainted,
Upon thy part I can fet down a story

3 -fil'd up bis line,] i. e. polifh'd it. So, in Ben Jonfon's Versa on Shakipeare:

"In his well-torned and true-filed lines." STEEVENS. 4-determinate.] i. e. determined, ended, out of date. See Vol. V. P. 403, n. I. MALONE.

5 In fleep a king,-] Thus, in Romeo and Juliet:

66 I dreamt, &c.

"That I reviv'd, and was an emperor." STEEVENS

And place my merit in the eye of Scorn,] Our authour has again perfonified Scorn in Otbello:

"A fixed figure, for the time of Scorn

"To point his flow unmoving finger at." MALONE.

Of

Of faults conceal'd, wherein I am attainted";
That thou, in lofing me, fhalt win much glory:
And I by this will be a gainer too;

For bending all my loving thoughts on thee,
The injuries that to myfelf I do,

Doing thee vantage, double-vantage

me. Such is my love, to thee I fo belong,

That for thy right myself will bear all wrong.

LXXXIX.

Say that thou didst forfake me for fome fault,
And I will comment upon that offence:
Speak of my lameness, and I ftraight will halt;
Against thy reasons making no defence.
Thou canft not, love, difgrace me half so ill,
To fet a form upon defired change,

As I'll myself difgrace: knowing thy will,
I will acquaintance ftrangle, and look strange;

7-I can fet down a fory

Of faults conceal'd, wherein I am attainted ;] So, in Hamlet: " but yet I could accufe me of such things, that it were better my mother had not borne me.' STEEVENS.

8 Speak of my lameness, &c.] See p. 225, n. 5. MALONE.

9 I will acquaintance strangle,-] I will put an end to our familiarity. This expreffion is again ufed by Shakspeare in Twelfth Night:

"it is the bafenefs of thy fear

"That makes thee frangle thy propriety."

Again, in K. Henry VIII.

he has frangled

"His language in his tears."

Again, in The Winter's Tale:

"Strangle fuch thoughts as these with any thing,

"That you behold the while."

Again, more appofitely in Antony and Cleopatra: "You fhall find the band that seems to tie their friendship together, fhall be the very frangler of their amity." So alfo Daniel, in his Cleopatra, 1594 :

"Rocks frangle up thy waves,

"Stop cataracts thy fall!"

MALONE.

This uncouth phrafe feems to have been a favourite with Shakspeare, who ufes it again in Macbeth:

"-night frangles the travelling lamp." STEEVENS,

Be abfent from thy walks'; and in n Thy fweet-beloved name no more tha Left I (too much profane) fhould do And haply of our old acquaintance t For thee, against myself I'll vow d For I must ne'er love him whom th

XC.

Then hate me when thou wilt; if eve
Now while the world is bent my deeds
Join with the spite of fortune, make m
And do not drop in for an after-lofs:
Ah! do not, when my heart hath scap'
Come in the rearward of a conquer'd w
Give not a windy night a rainy morrow
To linger out a purpos'd overthrow.
If thou wilt leave me, do not leave me
When other petty griefs have done their
But in the onfet come; fo fhall I taste
At first the very worst of fortune's migh
And other ftrains of woe, which now
Compar'd with lofs of thee, will not:

XCI.

Some glory in their birth, fome in their
Some in their wealth, fome in their body'
Some in their garments, though new-fang
Some in their hawks and hounds, fome in
And every humour hath his adjunct pleasu
Wherein it finds a joy above the reft;
But thefe particulars are not my measure,
All these I better in one general best.

Be abfent from thy walks ;] So, in A Midfumme
"Be kind and courteous to this gentleman;
"Hop in his walks." MALONE.

2 Come in the rearward of a conquered woe ;] So, in A "But with a rearward following Tybalt's deat Again, in Much Ado about Nothing:

And in the rearward of reproaches," &c. Again, in K. Henry IV. P. II. «He came ever the fashion." MALONE.