There lives a fon, that fuck'd an earthly mother,
May lend thee light3, as thou doft lend to other.

This faid, fhe hafteth to a myrtle grove,
Mufing the morning is fo much o'er-worn ;
And yet the hears no tidings of her love:
She hearkens for his hounds, and for his horn:
Anon fhe hears them chaunt it luftily,
And all in haste the coafteth to the cry *.

And as she runs, the bushes in the way
Some catch her by the neck, fome kifs her face,
Some twine about her thigh to make her stay;
She wildly breaketh from their ftrict embrace,
Like a milch doe, whofe fwelling dugs do ake,
Hafting to feed her fawn' hid in some brake.

By this, the hears the hounds are at a bay,
Whereat she starts, like one that spies an adder
Wreath'd up in fatal folds, juft in his way,
The fear whereof doth make him fhake and fhudder;
Even fo the timorous yelping of the hounds
Appals her fenfes, and her fpright confounds.

"Thine eyes, which, could his own fair beams decay, "Might shine for him, and bless the world with day." STEEV. 3 There lives a fon, that fuck'd an earthly mother,

May lend thee light,-] So, in Romeo and Juliet:

Her eye in heaven,

"Would through the airy region ftream fo bright,
"That birds would fing, and think it were not night."

MALONE.

4 Mufing-] in ancient language is wondering. See Vol. IV. p. 371,

n. 8. MALONE.

-fhe coafteth to the cry.] i. e. She advanceth. So, In Troilus and Creffida:

"O thefe encounterers, fo glib of tongue,

"That give a coafting welcome, ere it come!" MALONE.

5 Like a milch doe, whofe fwelling dugs do ake,

Hafling to feed her fawn-] So, in As you like it:

"While, like a doe, I go to find my fawn,
"And give it food." STEEVENS.

E 4

For

期

"

For now fhe knows it is no gentle chase,
But the blunt boar, rough bear, or lion proud,
Because the cry remaineth in one place,
Where fearfully the dogs exclaim aloud:
Finding their enemy to be fo curft,

They all ftrain court'fy who fhall cope him fir

This difmal cry rings fadly in her ear,
Through which it enters to surprise her heart;
Who, overcome by doubt and bloodless fear,
With cold pale weaknefs numbs each feeling pa
Like foldiers, when their captain once doth y
They bafely fly, and dare not stay the field.

Thus ftands fhe in a trembling ecftacy";
Till, cheering up her fenfes fore-difmay'd,
She tells them, 'tis a caufelefs fantafy,
And childish errour that they are afraid;

Bids them leave quaking, bids them fear no
And with that word she spy'd the hunted boar

Whofe frothy mouth, bepainted all with red,
Like milk and blood being mingled both togeth
A fecond fear through all her finews fpread,
Which madly hurries her fhe knows not whither
This way the runs, and now she will no further
But back retires, to rate the boar for murther,

A thousand spleens bear her a thousand ways;
She treads the path that she untreads again;
Her more than hafte is mated with delays,
Like the proceedings of a drunken brain;

• Thus fands fhe in a trembling ecftacy ;] Ecftacy ancient any violent perturbation of mind. See Vol. IV. p. 361, n. 9.

Again, in the Comedy of Errors:

"Mark, how he trembleth in his ecftacy!" STEEVE 7 Her more than bafle is mated with delays,] is confounded o ed by delay. See Vol. IV. p. 116, n. 8. The modern edi marred.

Full of respect, yet nought at all respecting*;
In hand with all things, nought at all effecting.

Here kennel'd in a brake she finds a hound,
And asks the weary caitiff for his master;
And there another licking of his wound,
'Gainft venom'd fores the only fovereign plafter;
And here the meets another fadly fcowling,
To whom the speaks; and he replies with howling.

When he had ceas'd his ill-refounding noise,
Another flap-mouth'd mourner, black and grim,
Against the welkin vollies out his voice;
Another and another answer him;

Clapping their proud tails to the ground below,
Shaking their fcratch'd ears, bleeding as they go.

Look, how the world's poor people are amaz'd
At apparitions, figns, and prodigies,
Whereon with fearful eyes they long have gaz'd,
Infusing them with dreadful prophecies;

So the at these fad figns draws up her breath,
And, fighing it again, exclaims on death.

Hard-favour'd tyrant, ugly, meagre, lean,
Hateful divorce of love, (thus chides she death,)
Grim-grinning ghoft, earth's worm, what doft thou mean,
To ftifle beauty, and to fteal his breath,

Who when he liv'd, his breath and beauty fet

Glofs on the rofe, fmell to the violet?

If he be dead,O no, it cannot be,

Seeing his beauty, thou should'st strike at it ;

O it

yes, may; thou haft no eyes to fee,

But hatefully at random doft thou hit,

*Full of refpect-] i. e. full of circumfpection, and wife confideration. See a note in the Rape of Lucrce, ft. 40, on the words ““ ReSpec and reafon wait on wrinkled age."-This is one of our authour's nice obfervations, No one affects more wifdom than a drunken man.

MALONE.

Thy

Thy mark is feeble age; but thy false dart
Mistakes that aim, and cleaves an infant's heart.

Hadft thou but bid beware, then he had spoke,
And hearing him, thy power had lost his power.
The deftinies will curfe thee for this stroke;
They bid thee crop a weed, thou pluck'ft a flower:
Love's golden arrow at him fhould have fled,
And not death's ebon dart, to ftrike him dead.

Doft thou drink tears, that thou provok'ft fuch weeping?
What may a heavy groan advantage thee?

Why haft thou caft into eternal fleeping

Those eyes that taught all other eyes to fee??
Now Nature cares not for thy mortal vigour,
Since her beft work is ruin'd with thy rigour.

Here overcome, as one full of defpair,
She vail'd her eye-lids', who, like fluices, ftopp'd
The cryftal tide that from her two cheeks fair
In the fweet channel of her bofom dropp'd;

But through the flood-gates breaks the filver rain,
And with his ftrong courfe opens them again.

8-drink tears,] So, in Pope's Eloifa:

"And drink the falling tears each other fheds." STEEVENG Rowe had before adopted this expreffion in his Jane Shore, 1713: "Feed on my fighs, and drink my falling tears."

See alfo K. Henry VI. P. III.

❝for every word I fpeak,

"Ye fee I drink the water of mine eyes." MALONE.

9 Thofe eyes that taught all other eyes to fee] So, in Romeo and Juliet: O, the doth teach the torches to burn bright." MALONE. She vail'd ber eye-lids,-] She lowered or clofed her eye-lids. So, in Hamlet:

"Do not for ever with thy wailed lids

"Seek for thy noble father in the dust."

See alfo Vol. V. p. 285, n. 9. MALONE.

2 But through the flood-gates breaks the filver rain,] So, in King Henry IV. P. I:

"For tears do ftop the flood-gates of her eyes." STEEVENS.

O how

O how her eyes and tears did lend and borrow!
Her eyes feen in the tears, tears in her eye;
Both crystals, where they view'd each other's forrow;
Sorrow, that friendly fighs fought still to dry;

But like a ftormy day, now wind, now rain 3,
Sighs dry her cheeks, tears make them wet again.

Variable paffions throng her conftant woe,
As ftriving which should beft become her grief;
All entertain'd, each paffion labours fo,
That every prefent forrow feemeth chief,

But none is beft; then join they all together,
Like many clouds confulting for foul weather.

By this, far off fhe hears fome huntsman holla;
A nurfe's fong ne'er pleas'd her babe fo well;
The dire imagination fhe did follow +
This found of hope doth labour to expell;
For now reviving joy bids her rejoice,
And flatters her, it is Adonis' voice.

Whereat her tears began to turn their tide,
Being prifon'd in her eye, like pearls in glass";
Yet fometimes falls an orient drop befide,
Which her cheek melts, as fcorning it fhould pafs,
To wash the foul face of the fluttish ground,

Who is but drunken, when she feemeth drown'd.

3-like a ftormy day, now wind, now rain,] In this ftanza we meet with fome traces of Cordelia's forrow:

"Sunthine and rain at once," &c. STEEVENS.

So alfo, in All's well that ends well:

"I am not a day of the feafon,

"For thou may'ft fee a funshine and a hail

"In me at once." MALONE.

The dire imagination he did fellow] So the octavo, 1596. The edition of 1600 has--dry. The conftruction is, this found of hope doth labour to expel the dire imagination, &c.

MALONE.

5-like pearls in glafs;] So, in K. Lear:

"Like pearls from diamonds dropt." STEEVENS.

-the fluttif ground,

Who is but drunken,-] So in K. Richard II :

"England's lawful earth,

"Unlawfully made drunk with innocent blood." MALONE.

5

O hard