Showing fair nature is both kind and tame ;

And veil'd in them, did win whom he would maim:
Against the thing he fought he would exclaim :
When he most burn'd in heart-wifh'd luxury,
He preach'd pure maid, and prais'd cold chastity.

Thus merely with the garment of a Grace
The naked and concealed fiend he cover'd;
That the unexperienc'd gave the tempter place,
Which, like a cherubin, above them hover❜d'.
Who, young and fimple, would not be so lover'd?
Ah me! I fell; and yet do queftion make
What I should do again for such a fake.

O, that infected moisture of his eye,
O, that falfe fire which in his cheek fo glow'd,
O, that forc'd thunder from his heart did fly 2,
O, that fad breath his fpungy lungs beftow'd,
O, all that borrow'd motion, feeming ow'd 3,

Again, in our authour's 117th Sonnet:

"Bring me within the level of your frown,
"But fhoot not at me in your waken'd hate."

Again, in All's well that ends well:

"I am not an impoftor, that proclaim

"Myself against the level of my aim."

Woul

I fufpect that for bail we ought to read ill. So, in the Rape of Li

crece

"End thy ill aim, before thy fhoot be ended." MALONE. 8-in beart-wifh'd luxury,] Luxury formerly was used for la civiousness. See Vol. VIII. p. 277, n. 2. MALONE.

9 He preach'd pure maid,-] We meet with a fimilar phrafeology i K. Jobn:

"He speaks plain cannon fire, and bounce, and smoke."

Again, in K. Henry V:

"I speak to thee plain foldier." MALONE.

-like a cherubin above them bover d.] So, in Macbeth:

"or heaven's cherubin, hors'd

"Upon the fightless couriers of the air." STEEVENS.

20, that forc'd thunder from bis heart did fly,] So, in Twelfth Night:

"With groans that thunder love, and fighs of fire." MALONE. 3 that borrow'd motion, feeming ow'd,] That paflion which he copied from others fo naturally that it seemed real and his own. Ow'd

bas

Would yet again betray the fore-betray'd,
And new pervert a reconciled maid + !

has here, as in many other places in our authour's works, the fignification of owned. MALONE.

4 In this beautiful poem, in every part of which the hand of Shakfpeare is vifible, he perhaps meant to break a lance with Spenfer. It appears to me to have more of the fimplicity and pathetick tenderness of the elder poet, in his smaller pieces, than any other poem of that time; and ftrongly reminds us of our authour's defcription of an ancient song, in Twelfth Night:

"It is filly footh,

"And dallies with the innocence of youth,
"Like the old age." MALONE.

TITUS ANDRONICUS,

A TRAGEDY ERRONEOUSLY ASCRIBED TO

SHAKSPEARE.

Saturninus, Son to the late Emperor of Rome, and afterwards declared Emberor himself.

Baffianus, Brother to Saturninus; in love with Lavinia. Titus Andronicus, a noble Roman, General against the Goths.

Marcus Andronicus, Tribune of the People, and Brother to Titus.

Alarbus,
Chiron,

. Demetrius,

Aaron, a Moor, beloved by Tamora.

A Captain, Tribune, Messenger, and Clown; Romans. Goths, and Romans.

Tamora, Queen of the Goths.

Lavinia, Daughter to Titus Andronicus.

A Nurse, and a black Child.

Kinsmen of Titus, Senators, Tribunes, Officers, Soldiers,

and Attendants.

SCENE, Rome; and the Country near it.