30

Now was she just before him as he fat,

And like a lowly lover down she kneels;
With one fair hand fhe heaveth up his hat,

Her other tender hand his fair cheek feels:

His tender cheek receives her foft hand's print,
As apt as new-fall'n fnow takes any dint.

O, what a war of looks was then between them!
Her eyes, petitioners, to his eyes fuing;
His eyes faw her eyes as they had not seen them;
Her eyes woo'd fill, his eyes difdain'd the wooing
And all this damb play had his acts made plain
With tears, which, chorus-like, her eyes did rain

Full gently now fhe takes him by the hand,
A lilly prifon'd in a gaol of fnow,

Or ivory in an alabafter band;

So white a friend engirts fo white a foe:

This beauteous combat, wilful and unwilling, Show'd like two filver doves that fit a billing.

Once more the engine of her thoughts began:
O fairest mover on this mortal round,
Would thou wert as I am, and I a man,
My heart all whole as thine, thy heart my wound;
For one fweet look thy help I would affure thee,
Though nothing but my body's bane would cure

Give me my hand, faith he, why doft thou feel it?
Give me my heart, faith fhe, and thou fhalt have it
O give it me, left thy hard heart do steel it,
And being steel'd, foft fighs can never grave it":

4 And all this dumb play bad his acts made plain

With tears, which, chorus-like, ber eyes did rain.] Fro prefent paffage, I think it probable, that this firft production of thour's mufe was not compofed till after he had left Stratford, came acquainted with the theatre. MALONE.

6

- left thy hard beart do fteel it,] So, in Othello:
thou doft ftone my heart." STEEVENS.

66

foft fighs can never grave it;] Engrave it, i. e. make preffion on it.

STEEVENS.

Then love's deep groans I never fhall regard,
Because Adonis' heart hath made mine hard.

For fhame, he cries, let go, and let me go;
My day's delight is paft, my horfe is gone,
And 'tis your fault I am bereft him fo;
I pray you hence, and leave me here alone;
For all my mind, my thought, my busy care,
Is how to get my palfrey from the mare.

Thus fhe replies: Thy palfrey, as he should,
Welcomes the warm approach of sweet defire.
Affection is a coal that must be cool'd;
Elfe, fuffer'd, it will fet the heart on fire:

The fea hath bounds, but deep defire hath none;
Therefore no marvel though thy horse be gone.

How like a jade he stood, tied to a tree,
Servilely mafter'd with a leathern rein!
But when he faw his love, his youth's fair fee,
He held fuch petty bondage in disdain;

Throwing the bafe thong from his bending creft,
Enfranchifing his mouth, his back, his breaft.

Who feeks his true love in her naked bed,
Teaching the sheets a whiter hue than white",
But, when his glutton eye fo full hath fed,
His other agents aim at like delight?

*The fea bath bounds, but deep defire bath none;] So, in Macbeth a but there's no bottom, none,

"To my voluptuoufnefs." W.

7 Who feeks bis true love in ber naked bed,

Teaching the sheets a whiter hue than white,] So, in Cymbelines
Cytherea,

"How bravely thou becom'ft thy bed! fresh lilly!

And whiter than the sheets."

I have followed the earliest and most authentick copy yet difcovered, that of 1596. The octavo 1600, reads-Who fees. MALONE.

8 His other agents aim at like delight?] So alfo Macbeth expreffeth himself to his wife:

66 --I am fettled, and bend up

"Each corporal agent to this terrible feat." AMNER.

Who

Who is fo faint, that dare not be fo bold,
To touch the fire, the weather being cold?

Let me excufe thy courfer gentle boy;
And learn of him, I heartily befeech thee,
To take advantage on prefented joy;
Though I were dumb, yet his proceedings teac
O learn to love; the leffon is but plain,
And, once made perfect, never loft again.

I know not love, (quoth he,) nor will not know
Unless it be a boar, and then I chase it;
'Tis much to borrow, and I will not owe it;
My love to love is love but to disgrace it;
For I have heard it is a life in death,
That laughs, and weeps, and all but with a E

Who wears a garment fhapelefs and unfinish'd?
Who plucks the bud before one leaf put forth?
If fpringing things be any jot diminish'd,
They wither in their prime, prove nothing wort
The colt that's back'd and burthen'd being y
Lofeth his pride, and never waxeth strong.

9 My love to love is love but to disgrace it ;] My inclination is only a defire to render it contemptible.-The fenfe is almo jingle of words. MALONE.

For I bave beard it is a life in death,

That laughs and weeps,] So, in King Richard III.
"For now they kill me with a living death."

Again, in Troilus and Creffida:

"Thefe lovers cry,-Oh! oh! they die!
"Yet that which feems the wound to kill,
"Doth turn ob! ob! to ba! ba! be!
So dying love lives fill:

"Oh! oh! a while; but ha! ha! ha!

"Oh! oh! groans out for ha! ha! ha!" MALO 2 Who plucks the bud before one leaf put forth?] So, in beard's Song of Venus and Adonis, by H. C. 1600.

"I am now too young

"To be wonne by beauty;
"Tender are my years,

"I am yet a bud." MALONE,

You hurt my hand with wringing; let us part 3,
And leave this idle theme, this bootless chat :
Remove your fiege from my unyielding heart;
To love's alarm it will not ope the gate+ :

Difmifs your vows, your feigned tears, your flattery;
For where a heart is hard, they make no battery.

What! canft thou talk, (quoth fhe,) haft thou a tongue ?
O, would thou had'ft not, or I had no hearing!

Thy mermaid's voice hath done me double wrong;
I had my load before, now prefs'd with bearing:
Melodious difcord, heavenly tune harsh-founding,
Earth's deep-fweet mufick, and heart's deep-fore
wounding.

Had I no eyes, but ears, my ears would love
That inward beauty and invisible;

Or, were I deaf, thy outward parts would move
Each part in me that were but fenfible:

Though neither eyes nor ears, to hear nor fee,
Yet fhould I be in love, by touching thee.

Say,

3 You burt my band with wringing; let us part,] So, in the song

above quoted:

"Wind thee from mee, Venus,

I am not disposed;

"Thou wringeft me too hard,

Pr'ythee let me goe:

"Fie, what a pain it is,
"Thus to be enclosed!"

MALONE.

4 Remove your fiege from my unyielding beart;

To love's alarm it will not ope the gate:] So, in Romeo and Juliet: "You-to remove that fiege of grief from her,."”

Again, ibid:

"She will not ftay the fiege of loving terms." MALONE.

5 Thy mermaid's voice-] Our ancient writers commonly use mermaid for Syren. STEEVENS.

See Vol. II. p. 166, n. I.

6

MALONE.

and invifible;] I fufpect that both for the fake of better rhime, and better fenfe, we should read invincible. Thefe words are mifprinted, alternately one for the other, in K. Henry IV. P. II. and K. Jobn. STEEVENS.

In the prefent edition, however, thereader will find the word invisible, in the paffage referred to in K. Jobn, and invincible, in the fecond part VOL. X.

D

of

Say, that the fenfe of feelings were bereft me,
And that I could not fee, nor hear, nor touch,
And nothing but the very smell were left me,
Yet would my love to thee be still as much;
For from the ftill'tory of thy face excelling
Comes breath perfum'd, that breedeth love by fmelling.

But O, what banquet wert thou to the tafte,
Being nurse and feeder of the other four!
Would they not with the feaft should ever laft,
And bid Sufpicion double lock the door??
Left jealoufy, that four unwelcome gueft,
Should, by his ftealing in, disturb the feast.

Once more the ruby-colour'd portal open'd,
Which to his fpeech did honey paffage yield;
Like a red morn, that ever yet betoken'd
Wreck to the fea-man, tempeft to the field,

Sorrow to fhepherds, woe unto the birds,
Guft and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds.

This

of K. Henry IV. as thofe words ftand in the old copy. See Vol. IV. p. 365, n. 6, and Vol. V. p. 368, n. 4.

An oppofition was, I think, clearly intended between external beauty, of which the eye is the judge, and a melody of voice, (which the poet calls inward beauty,) ftriking not the fight but the ear. I therefore believe invifible to be the true reading. MALONE.

5 Say, that the fenfe of feeling-] Thus the octavo, 1596. All the modern editions read reafon. MALONE.

Comes breath perfum'd, &c.] So, in Conftable's poem:

"Breathe once more thy balmie wind:

"It fmelleth of the mirth tree

"That to the world did bring thee,

"Never was perfume fo fweet." MALONE.

7 And bid Sufpicion double lock the door 2 ] A bolder or happier perfonification than this, will not readily be pointed out in any of our authour's plays. MALONE.

8 Left jealousy, that four-unwelcome gueft, &c.]

-ne quis malus invidere poffit,

Quum tantum fciat effe bafiorum. Catullus.. MALONE.

the ruby-colour'd portal open'd,] So, in K. Henry IV, P. II.

By his gates of breath

"There lies a downy feather, "

MALONE.

3-foul flaws-] i. e. violent blafts of wind. See Vol.V. p. 393, n. 5.

STEEVENS. " But