Shakespeare's poems; Venus and Adonis, Lucrece, The passionate pilgrim, Sonnets to sundry notes of music, The phoenix and turtle

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Shakespeare's poems; Venus and Adonis, Lu

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Cornell University
Library

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tine Cornell University Library.

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THE POEMS

SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

VENUS AND ADONIS

LUCRECE

THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM

SONNETS TO SUNDRY NOTES
OF MUSIC

THE PHCENIX AND TURTLE

EDITED BY

C. KNOX POOLER

I

INDIANAPOLIS

THE BOBBS-MERRILL CO.

PUBLISHERS

^, 0')

\ ) I

CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction vii

Venus and Adonis i

LUCRECE • ■ 59

The Passionate Pilgrim 135

Sonnets to Sundry Notes of Music . . . 149

The Phcenix and Turtle 159

INTRODUCTION

The text of the poems in this edition differs little from that
of the Cambridge Editors. In a few words the spelling of
the originals is restored for the sake of the rhythm. In the
case of ed (of past tenses and participles), not preceded by a
vowel and not forming a separate syllable, the e is elided in
the body of the line. At the end, it is elided or not according
to the text of the oldest copies. Otherwise, double rimes
might have been obscured. I have not given a place in the
text to any conjecture of my own, with the exception of an
added comma in The Passionate Pilgrim, xiv. 30 ; but I have
suggested new readings or pointings in the notes to Lucrece,
135 and 1545, and The Passionate Pilgrim, iii. 12, vii. 3, 5,
xiv., XV. II, 14, and xxi. 46. Some of these have already
appeared in Notes and Queries.

For the critical notes, I collated the text of the Oxford
Facsimiles edited by Mr. Sidney Lee. The readings of the
later Quartos, and of the editions of Lintott, Gildon, and
Sewell, are taken from the Cambridge Shakespeare. In the
explanatory notes, I have not knowingly borrowed informa-
tion or illustrations without acknowledgment, or wilfully
misrepresented the opinions of my predecessors, but I have,
when necessary, added references and corrected misquotations.
Where there was a conflict of opinion between previous
editors, I have given the various explanations, as far as
possible, in the actual words of their propounders, and have
often added my own view, but, I hope, without undue
emphasis. Except in Latin words and borrowed quotations,
including title pages and extracts from the Stationers'
Registers, I have not used i and u as consonants. In informal
citations of titles of books I have sometimes substituted
modern and correct forms; e.g.. Metamorphoses for Meta-
morphosis (Golding), and Scylla for Sdlla (Lodge).

Vlll

INTRODUCTION

, VENUS AND ADONIS

Venus and Adonis was entered in the Stationers' Register
in the year 1 593 ; see Arber's Transcript, ii. 630 :

Richard
Feild
Assigned
ouer to
master Har-
rison senior
25 Junii
1594

XVI I r Aprilis.

Entred for his copie under thandes
of the Archbisshop of Canterbury
and master Warden Stirrop,
a booke intituled
Venus and Adonis . . . vi*

In 1594 it was assigned by Field to Harrison (Arber,
ii. 655):

25 Junij

Master Assigned ouer vnto him from

Harrison Richard Field in open Court
Senior holden this Day a book called

Venus and Adonis .... vi''
the which was before entred to
Richard Field. 18 Aprilis. 1593.

From Harrison it passed in 1596 to William Leake
(Arber, iii. 65) :

25 Junij

William Assigned ouer vnto him from master

leeke harrison thelder, in full Court holden

this day . by the said master harrisons

consent . A booke called Venus

and Adonis . . . . vi""

This William Leake held the copyright till the year after
Shakespeare's death. The original owner, Richard Field,
was a Stratford man. His father, Henry, a tanner, had died
in 1 592, and Shakespeare's father had attested the inventory
of his goods.

It was published in 1593 with the title-page :

INTRODUCTION ix

Venus I and Adonis |

Vilia miretur vulgus: mihi flauus Apollo
Pocula Castalia plena ministret aqua.

[Device — an anchor suspended by a hand hold-
ing its ring, with the motto " Anchora Spei."]

London | Imprinted by Richard Field, and are to be
sold at I the signe of the white Greyhound in | Paules
Church-yard 1593.

Six editions at least were printed in Shakespeare's
lifetime and seven in the two generations following, viz.
in 1593, 1594, 1596, 1599, 1600 (?), 1602, 1617, 1620, 1627
(Edinburgh), 1630 (twice), 1636, and 1675. Of these editions
only twenty-one copies are known to exist. A full account
of all editions and extant copies, of Venus and Adonis,
Lucrece, and The Passionate Pilgrim, will be found in Mr.
Sidney Lee's Introductions to the Oxford Facsimiles of 1905.

The Latin couplet on the title-page is from Ovid's
Amoves, I. xv. 35, 36. It was translated by Marlowe (Ovid's
Elegies, pub. 1 597) as follows :

"Let base-conceited wits admire vile things:
Fair Phoebus lead me to the Muses' springs ; "

and thus by Ben Jonson :

"Kneel hinds to trash: me let bright Phoebus swell
With cups full-flowing from the Muses' well."

That few copies survive of the many editions published
is a sign that the poem was not only bought but read. It is
true that in contemporary allusions to Shakespeare his name
is more often associated with Lucrece, a more serious and
edifying work ; but Lucrece is rarely imitated or quoted, while
echoes of word and phrase, image and illustration, dilated or
condensed, from Venus and Adonis are abundant. In The
Shakespeare Allusion Book (1909), p. 540, the number of
allusions to Venus and Adonis between 1591 and 1700 is
given as 61 and to Lucrece as 41. Of the following examples
from Barnfield, whose Affectionate Shepheard was published in
November 1594, some it must be admitted are very faint,
but others are unmistakable.

1° The exchange of arrows between Love and Death seems
to be implied in Venus and Adonis, 945-948 :

"They bid thee crop a weed, thou pluck'st a flower:
Love's golden arrow at him should have fled,
And not Death's ebon dart, to strike him dead."

X INTRODUCTION

In The Affectionate Shepheard the exchange is described
at length (Arber's Barnfield, p. 6) :

"And thus it hapned, Death and Cupid met
Upon a time at swilling Bacchus house,
Where daintie cates upon the Board were set,
And Goblets full of wine to drink carouse :

Where Love and Death did love the licor so.
That out they fall, and to the fray they goe.

And having both their Quivers at their backe
Fild full of Arrows ; Th' one of fatall Steele,
The other all of gold; Deaths shaft was black,
But Loves was yellow : Fortune turnd her wheele ;
And from Deaths Quiver fell a fatal shaft,
That under Cupid by the winde was waft.

And at the same time by ill hap there fell

Another Arrow out of Cupids Quiver;

The which was carried by the winde at will,

And under Death the amorous shaft did shiver:

They being parted, Love tooke up Deaths dart.
And Death tooke up Loves Arrow (for his part)."

Death proceeds to inflame with love an old man, the
" weed " of Venus and Adonis; Cupid to discharge Death's
shaft at a young man, " the flower," and

"Thinking to ease his Burden, rid his paines:
For men have griefe as long as life remaines."

The likelihood, such as it is, that Barnfield was here indebted
to Shakespeare, arises not from any similarity of treatment,
but from the fact that the incident is somewhat of an ex-
crescence on his poem, as if the writer had got a hint and
was determined to make the most of it.

2° " The honey fee of parting tender'd is "

( Venus and Adonis, 538)
is expanded to

" O would to God (so I might have my fee)
My lips were honey, and thy mouth a Bee."

(Arber, p. 8)

3° Shakespeare uses '' cabinet " of a lark's nest ( Venus
and Adonis, 854), and Barnfield, of an arbour, in a passage
which recalls Venus and Adonis, 239 : " Then be my deer,
since I am such a park."

INTRODUCTION xi

" I would make Cabinets for thee (my Love :)
Sweet-smelling Arbours made of Eglantine
Should be thy shrine, and I would be thy Dove."

(Arber, p. 8)

4° In The second Dayes Lamentation of the Affectionate
Shepheard, Barnfield seems to use the word " gripe " of some
English bird of prey :

" Wilt thou set springes in a frostie Night,
To catch the long-billd Woodcocke and the Snype?
(By the bright glimmering of the Starrie light)
The Partridge, Phaesant, or the greed ie Grype? "

This is possibly an echo of Lucrece, 543.

5° " Musit," for " muse," in

" The many musits through the which he goes,"

( Venus and Adonis, 683)
may have suggested

"Or with Hare-pypes (set in a muset hole)
Wilt thou deceive the deep-earth-delving Coney ? "

(Arber, p. 13)

6° Venus and Adonis, i $7-162:

" Is thine own heart to thine own face affected ? . . .
Narcissus so himself himself forsook,
And died to kiss his shadow in the brook;"

and ibid. 1. 1 1 :

" Nature that made thee with herself at strife"

Cf. Affectionate Shepherd (Arber, p. 19) :

" Be not too much of thine own Image doting :
So faire Narcissus lost his love and life.
(Beauty is often with itself at strife^"

7° Venus and Adonis, Si $-8 16:

"Look, how a bright star shooteth from the sky,
So glides he in the night from Venus' eye . . .
Whereat amaz'd" . . .

Cf. Barnfield, Cassandra, Jan. 1595 (Arber, p. 71) :

"Looke how a brightsome Planet in the skie,
(Spangling the Welkin with a golden spot)
Shoots suddenly from the beholders eie.
And leaves him looking there where she is not :
Even so amazed Phoebus " , . ,

xii INTRODUCTION

8° Lucrece, 124-126:

"Now leaden slumber with life's strength doth fight,
And every one to rest themselves betake,
Save thieves and cares and troubled minds that wake."

Cf. Cassandra (Arber, p. 78) :

"Now silent night drew on; when all things sleep,
Save theeves and cares ; and now stil mid-night came."

9° Venus and Adonis, 359, 360:

"And all this dumb play had his acts made plain
With tears, which chorus-like her eyes did rain."

Cf. Cassandra (Arber, p. 79) :

" Thus ended shee ; and then her teares began
That {chorus-like) at every word down rained.
Which like a paire of christall fountaines ran,
Along her lovely cheekes."

These correspondences may seem slight in themselves, but
it should be remembered that they are found only in poems
published soon after Venus and Adonis, viz. in 1594 and
1595; and also written in the same metre or in that of
Lucrece; not in Cynthia (1905), which is in the Spenserian
stanza, or in the Sonnets, or in the Ode, " Nights were short,"
all published in 1905, or in the Encomion of Lady Pecunia
and other poems of 1598.

Secondly, like those unmeaning thefts imputed by
Macaulay to Robert Montgomery, they are not conveyed
cleanly, and seem out of place in their new home. No. 2° is
an exception, but No. 6°, " Beauty is often with itself at strife,"
is hardly intelligible.

In No. 7°, Barnfield seems to have combined information
on different subjects ; if his brightsome planet had been one
of the usual kind, it could not have shot suddenly, nor, if it
had been a meteor, could it have spangled the welkin with a
golden spot.

In 8°, " thieves " as used by Shakespeare at once suggests
Tarquin, of whom Chaucer also writes : " And in the nyght
ful thefely gan he stalke," but there is nothing appropriate
in its use by Barnfield, for Cassandra is in prison.

In 9°, Shakespeare leads up to "chorus-like" by the
" dumb play " of the previous line. The tears of Venus may
be compared to a chorus because they flowed, as a chorus
speaks, at intervals : she looks and weeps and looks again ;

INTRODUCTION xiii

but whether this be so or not, her tears are, like a chorus,
the interpreters of the dumb shew of her looks. Barnfield's
" tears " are not needed. : words are their own interpreters ;
and tears that rained down at every word would be mere
interruptions, catcalls rather than choruses.

Barnfield was, however, an admirer, if not a producer, of
good work. As he was the first to imitate Venus and Adonis,
so in his Cynthia (published in 1595) he was the first to imitate
the metre of the Faerie Queene; and Shakespeare was the
last and Spenser the first of those celebrated in his Re-
membrance of some English Poets {i$gS). But it is not only
by admirers of Venus and Adonis, or in the years immediately
succeeding its publication, that we are furnished with evidence
of its popularity. Allusions, paraphrases, quotations and
misquotations occur in various plays, and occasionally such
references are no more respectful than those to old Jeronimo.
In The Returne from Pemassus, Ft. i. (1600), ten lines are
quoted by a certain GuUio who declares he will have Shake-
speare's picture in his study, and his Venus and Adonis under
his pillow, "as wee reade of one (I do not well remember
his name, but I am sure he was a kinge) slept with Homer
under his bed's heade."

It is this same Gullio who says a little later : " Let this
duncified worlde esteeme of Spence^ and Chaucer, I'le
worshipp sweet Mr. Shakspere," and the words have some-
times been accepted as serious criticism. Later still, in
Hey wood's Fayre Mayde of the Exchange (1607), Bowdler,
whose wisdom is as the wisdom of Gullio, and who never
reads anything but Venus and Adonis, attempts to win the
affections of his beloved by repeating, with appropriate
gestures, the lines:

"Fondling I say, since I have hemd thee heere,
Within the circle of this ivory pale," etc.

His comment on his failure is as follows :

" Why what could I doe more ? I look'd upon her with
judgement, the strings of my tongue were well in tune, my
embraces were in good measure, my palme of a good con-
stitution, onely the phrase was not moving ; as for example,
Venus her selfe with all her skill could not winne Adonis,
with the same words; O heavens? was I so fond then to
think I could conquer Mall Berry ? O the naturall influence
of my own wit had been far better."

Such things are tributes, like caricatures in Punch, and to
these may be added- the increasing use of the metre. This
metre, decasyllabic lines with the beat on the even syllables

xiv INTRODUCTION

and riming ababcc, is that of the last six lines of the Shake-
sperean sonnet, previously written by Surrey and others. Its
use in independent stanzas was comparatively rare, rarer
indeed than might be gathered from the language of books
of the time on prosody, for provided the rimes were in the
same order, stanzas with lines of six, eight, or ten syllables
were all classed together. Thus James VI. of Scotland, in
his Reulis and Cautelis of Scottis Poesie (1585), introduces
an example of a stanza of octosyllabic lines (the metre of
xix. in The Passionate Pilgrim), with the words : " In matteris
of love, use this kynde of verse, quhilk we call Common Verse,"
and adds, " Lyke verse of ten fete \i.e. ten syllables], as this
is of aucht, ye may use lykewayis in love materis." Gascoigne,
in Certayne Notes of Instruction (i57S), had already spoken
of the ten-syllabled form as little used. " There is also," he
says, "another kinde [of verse] called Ballade, and thereof
are sundrie sortes : for a man may write ballade in a stafife
of sixe lines, every line conteyning eighte or sixe syllables,
whereof the first and third, second and fourth do rime acrosse,
and the fifth and sixth do rime togither in conclusion. You
may write also your ballad of tenne syllables rimyng as
before is declared, but these two [viz. those of six or eight
syllables] were wont to be most commonly used in ballade,
which propre name was (I thinke) derived of this word in
Italian Ballare, which signifieth to daunce. And in deed
those kinds of rimes serve best for daunces or light matters."
Curiously enough, it was this metre, "best for daunces or
light matters," that Whetstone chose for his " Remembrance
of the wel imployed life and godly end, of George Gascoigne
Esquire" (London, 1577).

Gascoigne himself had used it for some of the shorter
poems in each of the three divisions. Flowers, Hearbes, and
Weedes of his Posies (i57S); and ten years later Peele for
The Device of the Pageant. There is a single clumsy stanza
in Webbe's Discourse of English Poetrie (1586), and in the
next year it is the metre of two poems of some length by
Nicholas Breton, The Pilgrimage to Paradise and The Coun-
tesse of Penbrookes Love (i 592). We can hardly include Fulke
Greville's Treatie of Humane Learning, or Treatie of Warres,
his Treatise of Monarchie, or his Treatise of Religion, though
these are chiefly in this metre, for they were not published
till 1633.

There are other examples, but not many. If we omit
Chaucer's Lenvoy to Womanly Noblesse, six lines, of which
the last two rime to the first and third, and which was not
published till 1894, Spenser was the first great poet to use

INTRODUCTION xv

it : it is the metre of the seventeen stanzas of the ist Eclogue
of The Shepheards Calender,' oi part of its 8th Eclogue, of
The Teares of the Muses and of Astrophel. Two stanzas
occur in Shakespeare's Lovis Labour's Lost, I. i. 149-161 ;
and there are a few in the play of Selimus. But there is
nothing which can strictly be called a narrative poem or
supposed to have had much influence in popularising the
metre. There was, however, a poem of Lodge's which might
have done so, but it was by no means popular itself, though
it deserves separate treatment because it has sometimes been
regarded as the source or model of Venus and Adonis. This
is Scillaes Metamorphosis, usually called by its running title
Glaucus and Scilla, published in 1 589. The metre of the two
poems is the same. Both have their origin in classical
mythology and contain incidents and discourses not to be
found in the original fables. In both a female labours for
the love of a reluctant male, and there are one or two minor
resemblances of thought or imagery. Here the likeness ends.
If it were not for his charming lyrics, Lodge might be
thought to have had no ear for sound or rhythm, or at least
for anything higher than monotony and the smoothness
that comes by imitation. There is neither the movement
nor the pause of passion in the lines in which his characters
assure us that their hearts are torn and shaken. His images
and illustrations are such as might to-day be gathered in the
British Museum, results of research rather than experience ;
and he is quite capable of representing ridiculous situations
as pathetic. There is neither plot nor purpose in his poem,
but it has, at least, a framework. The author represents
himself as strolling, a pilgrim of love, on the banks of the
Isis, where he is joined by the sea-god, Glaucus, wounded by
Cupid and rejected by Scylla. Here, as if in response to
invitations, there arrive in succession four parties of goddesses
with their attendants. The description of each company
is followed by a monologue in which for the most part
Glaucus laments or is comforted. There are five incidents,
(i) Glaucus swoons and is restored to physical health by
moly, amaranthus, and Ajax' flower. (2) At the instance of
Thetis, his infatuation for Scylla is cured by Cupid, whose
second arrow, like that of Douglas of old, enters precisely the
hole made by the first, " a furious dart he sent Into that
wound which he had made before." (3) Cupid wounds Scylla.

(4) Scylla makes love to Glaucus without reserve or suc-
cess ; and the assembly retires in inverse order, the last first.

(5) Glaucus and the author, " horsed " on dolphins, are in time
to hear Scylla's lamentations answered by Echo, and to

b

xvi INTRODUCTION

watch her metamorphosis. She is bound and led into the
rocks of Sicily by the ■ personifications " Furie and Rage,
Wan-hope, Dispaire and Woe."

"hir lockes
Are chang'd with wonder into hideous sands
And hard as flint become her snow-white hands."

And yet she moves :

" The waters howle with fatall tunes about her.
The aire doth scowle when as she turnes within them."

Like the metamorphosis, the description is incomplete ;
hair of sand, and hands of flint, and motion. The mind's eye
rising from sand to rock pauses, but we are left with the un-
easy feeling that Fradubio transformed but not inverted was
in better case.

The passages which are supposed to have aided Shake-
speare are as follows (I quote from the Hunterian Club's
Reprint of the first edition) :

I. "He that hath scene the sweete Arcadian boy
Wiping the purple from his forced wound.
His pretie teares betokening his annoy,
His sighes, his cries, his falling on the ground,
The Ecchoes ringing from the rockes his fall.
The trees with teares reporting of his thrall :

And Venus starting at her love-mates crie,
Forcing hir birds to hast her chariot on ;
And full of griefe at last with piteous eie
Scene where all pale with death he lay alone.

Whose beautie quaild, as wont the Lillies droop
When wastfull winter windes doo make them stoop :

Her daintie hand addrest to dawe her deere,
Her roseall lip alied to his pale cheeke.
Her sighes, and then her lookes and heavie cheere,
Her bitter threates, and then her passions meeke;
How on his senseles corpes she lay a crying,
As if the boy were then but new a dying."

Cf. Venus and Adonis, 1027-1128.

2. " Themis that knewe, that waters long restrained

Breake foorth with greater billowes than the brookes
That swetely float through meades with floures distained,
With cheerefuU laies did raise his heavie lookes;

And bad him speake and tell what him agreev'd :
For griefes disclos'd (said she) are soone releev'd."

INTRODUCTION xvii

Cf. Venus and Adonis, 329-334:

"For lovers say, the heart hath treble wrong
When it is barr'd the aidance of the tongue.

An oven that is stopp'd, or river stay'd,
Burneth more hotly, swelleth with more rage:
So of concealed sorrow may be said ;
Free vent of words love's fire doth assuage."

3. " An yvorie shadowed front, wherein was wrapped

Those pretie bowres where Graces couched be :

Next which her cheekes appeerd like crimson silk,
Or ruddie rose bespred on whitest milk."

Cf. Venus and Adonis, 589, 590:

" a sudden pale.
Like lawn being spread upon the blushing rose."

4. " Eccho her selfe when Scilla cried out O love !

With piteous voice from out her hollow den
Returnd these words, these words of sorrow, (no love)
No love (quoth she) then fie on traiterous men^

Then fie on hope : then fie on hope (quoth Eccho)
To everie word the Nimph did answere so. . . .

Glaucus (quoth she) is faire: whilst Eccho sings
Glaucus is faire: but yet he hateth Scilla
The wretch reportes : and then her armes she wrings
Whilst Eccho tells her this, he hateth Scilla,

No hope (quoth she) : no hope (quoth Eccho) then.

Then fie on men : when she said, fie on men."

Cf. Venus and Adonis, 833-852 :

" ' Ay me ! ' she cries, and twenty times, ' Woe, woe ! '
And twenty echoes twenty times cry so. . . .

She says ' 'Tis so : ' they answer all ' 'Tis so ; '
And would say after her, if she said ' No.' "

Whatever Shakespeare may have borrowed, it was not the
art of story-telling. Glaucus and Scilla is in the strictest
sense incoherent ; no incident or situation draws on or grows
out of another. The faults are not those of immaturity but
of incompetence, of an imagination that can only work piece-
meal. Lodge makes his stanzas as a coalheaver makes cart-
loads, successive shovelfuls with the same swing. There is a

xviii INTRODUCTION

certain uniformity of material and workmanship, but of inter-
dependence and correlation of parts there is nothing. A
house so built might be judged by a brick. In reading
Shakespeare, we have an impression of unity and design and
a sense of expectation continually satisfied and continually
renewed. Scene and situation are treated with the simplicity
and completeness of art made perfect by experience. Nothing,
in his own phrase, lives to itself. Attitude, gesture, movement,
trifling as they may seem, are all significant, giving life and
meaning, till the reader sees the image and feels the passion ;
and, in addition to this, they have the subsidiary but most
important function of aiding in the construction of the
narrative, of continuing its sequence and maintaining its
interest. They serve as links and finger-posts. To give a
humble illustration, if a hand is extended, we expect some-
thing to follow, a blessing, it may be, or a greeting; if we
read of a clenched fist, we expect that a blow will be inflicted
or warded. A hint suffices for a promise or a threat, and if
nothing happens we feel defrauded ; still more so, if something
happens which could not possibly have been foreseen. This
is Lodge's way, but it is not Shakespeare's. In Lodge, action
and attitude are treated conventionally, and serve as padding.
Compare, for example, Venus and Adonis 319-354 with the
opening stanzas of Glaucus and Scilla. In the former we can
follow the movements of Adonis as he tries to catch his horse
and fails. He is left behind, and sits down flushed and angry.
He sees Venus returning, pulls down his hat, and ostenta-
tiously stares at the ground while " all askance he holds her
in his eye." Venus comes stealing back, and kneels beside
him, with one hand raising his hat, with the other making
dimples in his cheek. Image rises after image in the reader's
mind. There is nothing wanting or incongruous. But in
Glaucus and Scilla action and expression are for the most
part conventional poses : Scylla in distress wrings her arms,
Glaucus folds and unfolds his. But the actions described
have no bearing on the story, and the changes are as sudden
and inexplicable as conjuring tricks.

The poem is written as an excerpt from an autobiography :
" Walking alone . . . Within a thicket near to Isis floud . . .
The Sea-god Glaucus . . . before my face appears." There is
no surprise, no greeting, not a word to show how Lodge got
out of his thicket or how Glaucus got in. There is merely
a couplet on the queer clothes of the god,

"For whom the Nimphes a mossie coate did frame,
Embroadered with his Scillas heavenly name,"

INTRODUCTION xix

and the poem continues :

" And as I sat under a Willow tree,
The lovelie honour of faire Thetis bower,
Reposd his head upon my faintfull knee."

No clue of reason or imagination has guided us to the
new situation ; and something may be said against it ; for there
is a touch of reproach in the word " faintful," as if Glaucus
had taken advantage of his helplessness to creep under the
lee of his gaberdine. Still, the attitudes are definitely those
of mother and child, consoler and consoled. It will be easy
for Lodge to glance an eye of pity, to smooth the curls, to
bend and whisper. In an instant we are undeceived. Action
and utterance are confined to the reposer :

"And when my teares had ceasd their stormie shower,
He dried my cheekes, and then bespake him so.
As when he waild I straight forgot my woe."

Here the gulf between quiescence and effort is unbridged. It
is as if, instead of reclining, the god had been crouching for
a spring. The action is incompatible with the position. But
the succeeding line asserts that he wailed. This, if he had
not moved in the meantime, would be recognised as both
appropriate and easy. Must we then understand the drying
of cheeks as a passing incongruity of accident or impulse and
the wail as a return to nature ? Let us speak not out of lame
surmises but from proof There is no wail. Lodge in the
next four stanzas confutes his own assertion ; for Glaucus
merely moralises and prescribes : a waller is more condoling.
He takes as his subject inconstancy. Change is the common
lot. From nature and books, sunrise and pomp with their
attendant cloud and disaster, as also from the Schoolmen's
cunning notes

"Of hearbs, of metall, and of Thetis floates
Of lawes and nurture kept among the bees,"

his hearer is desired to
"Conclude and knowe times change by course of fate."

The discourse ends with the words :

"Then mourne no more, but moane my haples state."

As doctor and patient were suffering from the same
disease, this is surely a most lame and impotent conclusion.
Throughout, some inconsistency or inconsequence dissipates

XX INTRODtfCTlON

the illusion and defeats the purpose. One of the best lines
is spoilt by a word :

" And shippes shall safely saile whereas beforne
The ploughman watcht the reaping of his corne."

Why should he plough and not reap ?

Again, though we are evidently intended to sympathise
with Glaucus, he is yet represented as asking the surrounding
sea-nymphs whether they had not loved him and loved in
vain :

"Was any Nimph, you Nimphes was ever any
That tangled not her fingers in my tress?
Some well I wot and of that some full many
Wisht or my faire, or their desire were lesse.
Even Ariadne gazing from the skie
Became enamorde of poore Glaucus eye."

Even the passages from which Shakespeare may have
caught a hint are deformed. To Scylla's "O Love," Echo
replies " No love," though in addition to Ovid, Lodge had a
sufficient model in the echo song of Gascoigne's Princely
Pleasures of Kenilworth Castle, where Echo, so to say, repeats
no more than she hears.

Once more, while Venus's endearments are indefensible,
she is, as compared with Scylla, circumspect and discreet.
Her sport, as she reminds Adonis, " is not in sight." But
Scylla's sighs, vows, tears, blushes, whisperings are sighed,
vowed, wept, blushed, whispered before gods and men.

" Lord how her lippes doo dwell upon his cheekes ;
And how she lookes for babies in his eies."

Yet there are present, in addition to her victim Glaucus
and his friend the author, Themis and the sea-nymphs,
Thetis and her train of attendants, Venus and Cupid, and
Palemon with the Tritons. Such is the work of a man
writing without either the assistance or the control of the
mind's eye or the mind's ear. There is not a ripple on the
verse. The reader passes from line to line and from stanza
to stanza with an indifference as unbroken as its own fluidity.
Whether Shakespeare was or was not indebted to Lodge
for hints as to metre, subject, treatment, or an occasional
thought or fancy, is a question of little moment. If he was,
his Venus and Adonis was written later than 1589, or when he
was twenty-five years of age and upwards ; for Shakespeare
was probably born early in 1564. But such external evidence
can at best confirm what is proved by the quality of the

INTRODUCTION xxi

poem. To regard it as the work of a boy lisping in numbers,
even if we suppose it changed and completed for a patron in
later days, is to be deaf as well as blind. Some writers
indeed have gone so far as to imply that the descriptions of
the country, of hare and horse and hound, could only have
been written in the early days of Stratford, as if a poet could
not reach beyond the experience of the moment, or describe
more than his immediate surroundings. A mind such as
Shakespeare's fed and furnished with an inexhaustible supply
of life-like impressions by a memory capable of instantaneous
service would account for every description, every hint and
allusion, even if he had been in no real sense a sportsman at
all. In fact, good and accurate work in this kind was accom-
plished by Topsel in prose and by Gascoigne in verse, though
Topsel admits that he was indifferent to sport, and Gascoigne's
shooting was, on his own showing, a standing joke, and their
sympathies, like Shakespeare's, were less with the pursuer
than the pursued. It is not impossible that Shakespeare's
skill in woodcraft has been exaggerated. Tradition states
that he was a poacher, not that he was a master-poacher or
expert. More fortunate-unlucky than Gascoigne, he could
strike a doe, but to bear her cleanly by the keeper's nose was
not always within his power.

i^enus and Adonis may not be a great poem, but a poem
it certainly is, and if almost uniform excellence of treatment
and occasional splendour be admitted in evidence, it is greater
than any poem of any other poet of the century except
Spenser. There is in it much that even Spenser could not
have written ; his best work falls short of this in vigour and
coherer ce. of narratjve and in the indescribable felicity of a
rhythm which, amid all Jts changes, unfailingly res^ponds to
the sens and feeling of the words. J

The perfection of Spenser's verse gives to his poems the
beauty of fairyland and of dreams, and the perfection of
Shakespare's adds to the sense of reality , because without
imitative tricks and artifices" ft is "so admirably appropriate.
His leas; effective lines, e.g. " ' I am,' quoth he, ' expected of
my friends,' " are at least true to nature.

Swinburne, indeed, has said of Shakespeare that "if we
put aside the Sonnets, we must admit that he never did any-
thing in iiyme worth Hero and Leander" but in Swinburne's
own narntive poems the narrative itself is the least con-
spicuous )f their merits, and in his imagination Marlowe's
poem maj^ have " stood up re-created," transfigured to all
that it mijht have been had its author lived to refashion and
complete t.

xxii INTRODUCTION

As it stands, though there are in it passages that for free
movement and beauty can hardly be overpraised, these are
but scattered lights. Judged as a whole, it is a magnificent
patdiwprk, made up of descriptions of persons, or of the
cloBies of persons, who do little or nothing, and of places
where little or nothing happens. In the intervals between
these, the verse flags or labours. Unessentials or impossi-
bilities are described at inordinate length and great oppor-
tunities neglected. The actual crossing of the Hellespont is
related without suggesting any sound or freshness of sea or
air, or any effort or eagerness of the swimmer; there is not a
glimpse of the hope that sustains or the light that guides him.
The whole of it is not worth the brief image of the Hebrew,
"as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim."
Our eyes are distracted from Leander to the unwieldy
gambols of Neptune, wallowing about him with unsought
endearments or unprovoked violence. It is by no means a
delightful duty to dwell mainly on defects in the work of a
poet who, in the words of Swinburne,

" First gave our song a sound that matched our se^."

In the presence of its beauties its faults are easily forgotten.
If it were not that it has been regarded as among tht very
chief of Shakespeare's models, its weakness or its gre|.tness,
absolute or relative, would hardly concern us here; but its
defects must be adequately realised if we are to /orm a
reasonable estimate of its influence, supposing its inflijence to
have been felt. That Shakespeare had even read it so early
as in Marlowe's lifetime, it would be difficult to proveJ In an
age when MSS. circulated freely, it is not unlikely Jthat he
had, and if so, his independence of mind is all tie more
remarkable. He was not moved by its evil exampleto relax
his powers of conceiving a large scheme, and of so ^electing
and ordering a multitude of thoughts and incidents that his
narrative moves in a natural and harmonious cdirse un-
checked and unblemished by any trace of negleence or
fatigue. r

Passages from Hero and Leander are given baow with
references to Dyce's one- volume edition of Marlove. The
corresponding passages in Venus and Adonis are r/ferred to
by line : {

I. "To please the careless and disdainful ey|s
Of proud Adonis."

(p. 279 b ; Venus and Adonis\passim)

INTRODUCTION xxiii

2. "Those orient cheeks and lips excelling his

That leapt into the water for a kiss
Of his own shadow."

(p. 280 a; Venus and Adonis, II. 161, 162)

This may have caused Shakespeare to think that Narcissus
was drowned.

3. " Why art thou not in love and lov'd of all ?

Though thou art fair yet be not thine own thrall."
(280 b; Venus and Adonis, 11. 156-160 and 837)

4. " Fair Cynthia wish'd his arms might be her sphere ;

Grief makes her pale because he moves not there."
(280 a ; Venus and Adonis, 11. 725, 726)

5. " Rose-cheek'd Adonis." (280 3; Venus and Adonis, X."^

6. " Thence flew Love's arrow with the golden head."

(281 ^ ; Venus and Adonis, 1. 947)

7. "dark night is Cupid's day."

(281 b; Venus and Adonis, 1. 720)

8. "then treasure is abus'd
When misers keep it: being put to loan
In time it will return us two for one."

(282 a ; Venus and Adonis, 1. 768)

9. "a fruitless cold virginity."

(283 a ; Venus and Adonis, 1. 75 1)

10. "And like light Salmacis, her body throws

Upon his bosom, where with yielding eyes

She offers up herself a sacrifice

To shake his anger, if he were displeas'd."

(285 b. The courtship of Adonis by Venus re-
sembles that of Hermaphroditus by Salmacis)

11. "For as a hot proud horse highly disdains

To have his head controll'd, but breaks the reins,
Spits forth the ringled bit, and with his hoves
Checks the submissive ground ; so he that loves
The more he is restrain'd, the worse he fares."

(286 b, 287 a ; Venus and Adonis, 1. 263, etc.)

The reputation of Venus and Adonis as a poem has

xxiv INTRODUCTION

suffered from the presence of certain lines which offend
equally against good manners and good taste. These can
only be regretted. They cannot be wholly explained either
by the character of the subject or by the coarseness of the
age. Spenser occasionally offends against good taste in
passages which are as the " musty chaff" to which Coriolanus
likened his fellow-citizens, but his offences are of a different
kind, and he writes as a moralist and in defence of virtue.
Barnfield excused his own tacenda on the ground that he
was imitating Virgil, but Ovid's descriptions of Venus and
even of Salmacis are comparatively inoffensive.

Marston defended his Pygmalion as a kind of illustrative
satire on the malpractices of others, but this defence will not
serve for Shakespeare and did not save Pygmalion from the
flames. I can only suggest that what is objectionable in
Venus and Adonis is due to the intrusion into poetry of the
spirit of epigram. The tone is that of Epigrams by J. D.
which was burnt by authority, of Guilpin's Skialetheia, and of
much of the same sort in Ben Jonson and Herrick. ( This at
least may fairly be said of the worst parts__of Venus and
Adonis, that they do not represent unbridled passion TfT a
favourable light. As provocatives and incentives they are
easily distanced by at least one description in Hero and
Leander, not to mention the imitation of this in Pygmalion.

But however trifling the subject and regrettable certain
incidents and the emphasis with which they are treated,
JVenus and Adonis has great merits. Had it been written by
any other than the author of Othello and Lear, it would not
have been so unduly neglected, but if the nature of the poem
does not excuse its coarseness, it at least accounts for the
absence of sublimities. 'There was neither need nor oppor-
tunity for such a passage as the words of Coriolanus to his
child :

"that thou mayest stand
To shame invulnerable and stick i' the wars
Like a great seamark standing every flaw
And saving those that eye thee";

or for the wonderful line in the Sonnets :

"Bare ruin'd choirs where late the sweet birds sang."

IVon nunc, as Horace has wisely said, erat his locus. What
is fit and proper has been given in full measure. Great lines,
no doubt, do not make a great poem, but only a great poet
can write them ; and few poems contain so many lines so

INTRODUCTION xxv

beautiful that it is impossible to forget them. It may be
convenient, though perhaps hardly necessary, to cite here a
few that would do honour to any poet.

"Thus he that overrul'd I oversway'd
Leading him prisoner in a red rose chain ; "

a line so delicately beautiful in rhythm that the slightest
change, the mere hyphening of the words red rose, and the
consequent lightening of the stress on the latter, is a serious
blemish.

Even lines which like the following are no more than the
expression of a graceful fancy have a perfection of their
own :

" Full gently now she takes him by the hand,
A lily prison' d in a gaol of snow"

0, si sic omnia ! And again :

" Look how a bright star shooteth from the sky,
So glides he in the night from Venus' eye."

And this :

" Who doth the world so gloriously behold
That cedar tops and hills seem molten gold."

And what a world there is of others ! One more may be
added, if only on account of the light it sheds either on the
authorship of the parallel passage in Titus Andronicus or on
the marvellous development of Shakespeare's powers, as if a
crow should become a skylark and sing at heaven's gate.
It is the description of hounds in full cry.

" Then do they spend their mouths : Echo replies
As if another chase were in the skies."

The fancy is the same as in the speech of Tamora to Aaron
(ri. iii. 17-20) :

"And while the babbling echo mocks the hounds
Replying shrilly to the well-tuned horns,
As if a double hunt were heard at once.
Let us sit down and mark their yelping noise."

Sound it, doth it become the mouth as well? With our
modern pronunciation the line in italics would approximate
in tone to the meanings of a sick cow ; with the pronunciation
of the Elizabethans, the resemblance is complete. In the

xxvi INTRODUCTION

former, the very cry is suggested without any trace of artifice
or mimicry ; there is no repetition of the sounds except what
is necessary for the rime. In the latter, the sounds themselves
are low and inappropriate ; they are repeated and are bedded
in consonants; and the rhythm sticks and stumbles. Not
only is the ear defrauded but also the eye. The words " were
heard " reinforced by " Let us sit down," pin the whole scene
to a spot of earth, and leave us with the impression of a seat
upon the ground rather than of infinite movement through
infinite space. The other sounds like what it is: it moves
with the freedom and sweep of a bird ; it opens the heavens
above us as in a vision of the flying huntsman or of Gabriel's
hounds,

"Doomed with their impious lord, the flying hart,
To hunt forever in aerial grounds."

On the whole, the lines in the play seem less like an early
effort of genius to fly than the assured step of mediocrity,
resolute and mature. Without wishing to dogmatise where
there can be no proof, I should be inclined to set them down
as the work of a man confident in assigning to inspiration
his mastery over metrical prose. The marvel is, not that a
few dull lines should have been written by Shakespeare in
his haste, but that having a great opportunity he should
have missed it, and that failing here he should yet have been
so entirely successful in that later speech of Tamora's :

" King, be thy thoughts imperious, like thy name," etc.

In the interesting Introduction to Griggs's Facsimile of
Venus and Adonis, it is suggested that of the two great
influences affecting English poetry in the sixteenth century,
viz. Latin and Italian, Shakespeare, with Marlowe to guide
him, deliberately and exclusively submitted to the former,
thus choosing, as was natural, the human and vital in prefer-
ence to the allegorical and fantastic. It is needless to repeat
what has there been excellently said. I would merely add,
by way of supplement or caution, that there were other
influences at work, e.g. French, that Latin and Italian were
sometimes translated into English not from the originals but
from French translations, a circumstance that would naturally
tend to obscure their native qualities, and that probably
Shakespeare was influenced by the prose as well as by the
poetry of his contemporaries. Classical literature, in particular,
seems to have affected Shakespeare much as it affected
Keats, not as it affected, for example, Ben Jonson. It was

INTRODUCTION xxvii

an influence on the subject rather than on the style and
treatment. Venus and Adonis, like Lucrece, is a Latin story,
i.e. Latin in title and origin, but Shakespeare replanted
the exotics in English soil. Details and illustrations are
English, the scenery, the hunt, the rush-strewn floor, the
references to the plague, to law, to chivalry, and so forth.
When foreign influence extends little further than to the
plot, it is possible to divide too strictly different ages and
different nationalities. In Painter's Palace of Pleasure, as
previously in the Gesta Romanorum, Latin and Italian tales
appeared in the same volume. Translation too was a great
leveller, and even Painter sometimes used a French version.
We cannot say that Greene wrote under Hebrew or Hellenic
influence because he expanded the apocryphal History of
Susannah. In fact, this story of Greene's which he entitled
A Princelie Mirrour of Peereles Modestie, is especially in-
teresting in this connection ; for, not being derived from any
of the usual sources, it bears no traces of its peculiar origin,
and might stand as a typical novel of the time. Its resem-
blances to Lucrece will be noticed hereafter. What concerns us
here is the plan and framework. It seems not to have been
noticed that in these respects Elizabethan novels and Eliza-
bethan narrative poems are precisely similar. In both, the
plot is of the slightest. The few incidents are held apart by
soliloquies, or by debates or conversations usually confined
to two persons, and consisting of set speeches. Soliloquies
and speeches alike are for the most part loci communes, their
subjects being love, time, death, friendship, etc. The simplest
assertion is copiously illustrated by parallels from history and
tradition, or by similes invented or borrowed from the animal,
vegetable, and mineral worlds. The style is animated by
figures of speech, and the alliterations are elaborate and
frequent. Such is Greene's Mirrour of Modestie, and such in
great measure is Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis, But in
other writers the elements are more obtrusive than in Shake-
speare. What in others is visible padding, or affectation, is in
him natural growth, for he makes us feel and see ; and to the
motive power of imagination and sympathy he has added
the rarer virtues of discretion and restraint. Thus, in illus-
trating concealed sorrow, he contents himself with two
examples, the oven stopped and the river stayed, whereas
Lily in a similar passage has four. It must, however, be
admitted that he sometimes yields to the prevailing taste, as
in 11. 415-420 and 458-462. Ovid offends in the same way,
but in comparison with the Euphuists both he and Shake-
speare are miracles of temperance.

xxviii INTRODUCTION

In general, Shakespeare is distinguished from his con-
temporaries, not byflaeintroductrojiof any novelty of" frame-
work or ornament, but by his skill and moderation in the
use of what was customary. He delivers a plain, unvarnished,
or at least not over-varnished, tale, and does not divert
attention from his subject by exposing to admiration his own
ingenuities and erudition. When he affects the letter, it is
nof laecause it argues facility. His success does not seem to
arise from the mere pruning of redundancies so much as
from the thorough realisation of the matter in hand and the
consequent sense of what is fitting. Other writers try to
exhaust a topic. Shakespeare's speeches are never mono-
graphs, and are rarely inappropriate. His Adonis may
exhibit a precocious wisdom, as in asking " Who plucks the
bud before one leaf put forth ? " but this is far removed from
the blunt complacency of the corresponding words in Con-
stable's poem : " Tender are my years, I am yet a bud." I have
appended this poem of Constable's, as an interesting example
of contemporary treatment of one of Shakespeare's subjects,
to the extracts from Spenser and Golding which seem to be
the sources of Venus and Adonis. It is now regarded as an
imitation, but Malone thought otherwise, though, like the
good scholar he was, he did not mistake his prepossessions
for evidence. His words are : " I am persuaded that the
Sheepheard's Song of Venus and Adonis, by Henry
Constable, preceded the poem before us. Of this, it may be
said, no proof has been produced ; and certainly I am at
present unfurnished with the means of establishing this fact,
though I have myself no doubts upon the subject."

Constable differs from Shakespeare in introducing refer-
ences to Myrrha. Her story is given by Ovid, who, however,
represents Adonis as the willing lover of Venus. His
passionless nature or age, as depicted by Shakespeare, would
seem to preclude any allusion to his parentage, and Shake-
speare has none (11. 203, 204 are too general to count) ; but if
Constable was the later writer and the imitator of Shakespeare,
it may seem strange that he should in this respect have
deserted his guide. But it would, on the other hand, be still
stranger if Shakespeare had chosen for his first poem so un-
gainly a model.

Though from Chaucer onwards there were many allusions
to the story, Shakespeare was probably the first English
poet to make it the subject of a separate poem. There were,
however, several such poems or plays in Latin, Italian,
French, and Spanish, as well as translations of Bion's Elegy
on Adonis. Malone had long ago quoted from the Latin

INTRODUCTION xxix

poem, De Adoni ab Apro Interempto, by Antonius Sebastianus
Minturnus, the boar's apology (borrowed from Theocritus)
for the wound as a rough kiss :

"... iterum atque juro iterum,
Formosum hunc juvenem tuum haud volui
Meis diripere his cupidinibus
Verum dum specimen nitens video,
(^stus impatiens tenella dabat
Nuda femina moUibus zephyris)
Ingens me miserum libido capit
Mille suavia dulcia hinc capere,
Atque me impulit ingens indomitus."

And to the name of Minturno, Mr. Sidney Lee has added
those of Alciati and Sannazaro as among the Italian authors
of Latin poems on Adonis; see note i, p. 21, of his Introduc-
tion to the Oxford Facsimile, from which I cite the following
list of titles and names of authors, and to which I can only
refer my readers for further particulars.

Italian : — Bion's Elegy translated by Amomo (unknown),
in a collection of Rime Toscane, 153S ; La Favola d'Adone,
1545, by Lodovico Dolce, translator of Ovid's Metamorphoses ;
LA done, 1550, by Metello Giovanni Tarchagnota ; La Favola
dAdone by Girolamo Parabosco, who died in 1557; L'Adone,
1623, by Giovanni Battista Marino.

French : — Bion's Elegy translated by Melin de St. Gelais,
1547 ; Adonis, ou la Ckasse du Sanglier, before 1574, by Jean
Passerat; Adonis, 1579, a tragedy by Gabriel le Breton, an
allegorical elegy on the death of King Charles ix. of France,
who died in 1574.

Spanish: — Fabula de Adonis, 1553, by Don Diego
Hurtado de Mendoza; Llanto de Venus en la muerte de
Adonis, 1582, by Juan de la Cueva; Venus en la muerte de
Adonis, a sonnet by Juan de la Arguijo, who died in 1629;
and Adonis y Venus, before 1600, a tragedy by Lope de Vega.

And there were others. "There are," says Mr. Sidney
Lee, "too many details peculiar to Shakespeare's poem
and to its Italian predecessors, to preclude the suggestion
that Shakespeare was acquainted with the latter and absorbed
some of their ornaments and episodes. The deliberate setting
of the scene of Venus and Adonis amid flowers blooming
under the languorous heat of summer skies is outside the
scheme of the Latin or Greek poets. Yet this is a feature
common to the work of Shakespeare and the Italians."
Other resemblances are the execration of death (Shakespeare,

XXX INTRODUCTION

11- 931-954) 991-1002 ; and Tarchagnota, stanzas liv-lix) and
its retractation, and the excuse for the boar that its attack was
an embrace (Shakespeare, II. 1110-1116; and Tarchagnota,
stanza Ixv).

But it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between imita-
tions and coincidences. Ovid gives a hint that the time
was summer: "Opportuna sua blanditur populus umbra
Datque torum caespes." Death is reproached, in The
Dolefull Lay of Clorinda, a lament for the death of Sir
Philip Sidney, which Spenser wrote in the person of Sidney's
sister, Mary Countess of Pembroke. Both this and the pre-
ceding poem, Astrophel, are in the metre of Venus and
Adonis, and in Astrophel Spenser represents Sidney as having
been killed, like Adonis, while hunting, by a wound in his
thigh. Of course, Spenser may have taken a hint from
Tarchagnota for his " Death the devourer of all worlds delight,"
etc., as he may have taken one from Gabriel le Breton, when
he introduced into his Elegy the circumstances of the death
of Adonis. As already mentioned, the boar's excuse had
appeared in Theocritus and in Minturno. It is perhaps worth
notice that Malone had suspected the existence of Italian
influence on the story of Adonis, though neither he nor
Warton, whom he consulted, was able to produce any evidence
in support of his guess.

The ultimate sources of Shakespeare's poem are to be
found in Ovid's stories of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus and
of Venus and Adonis, and if we except the references to
Adonis's hunting, only the last third of the poem is from the
latter. The story of Narcissus and Echo {Met. iii.) may have
given a hint for the allusion to Narcissus in 11. 161, 162, and
for the description of Venus's lamentation in 11. 829-852.
But Ovid's Narcissus was changed to a flower, not drowned,
and such hints could have been given equally well by dozens
of English books.

I do not know any classical allusion in Venus and Adonis
that appears there for the first time, or is peculiar to Shake-
speare. He does not seem to have been the first to combine
the stories of Salmacis and Venus. Possibly the combination
was in the first instance accidental. Some such picture as
is described in The Taming of the Shrew (Induction,
ii. 52-55) may really have represented a scene from the
story of Salmacis, and being misinterpreted may have caused
the youth of the victim, the bathing, and the espionage to pass
into the Venus legend. This is mere conjecture, but it is a
fact that all these circumstances occur in Spenser's description
of the arras of " Castle Joyeous " {Faerie Queenc, III. i. xxxiv-

INTRODUCTION xxxi

xxxviii), and it is equally indisputable that they belong to
the story of Salmacis and not to that of Venus.

Shakespeare was anticipated not only by Spenser, but
in two points also by Marlowe and Greene, in passages quoted
in the Introduction to the Passionate Pilgrim.

In the following summary, I include the lines in The
Taming of the Shrew, and the anonymous and undated
poems, iv., vi., ix., in The Passionate Pilgrim, as well as xi.
by Griffin.

The wooing by Venus appears in Spenser, Marlowe,
Greene, and Passionate Pilgrim, iv., ix., xi. ; the indifference
or reluctance of Adonis, in Marlowe and Greene (it is implied
by Spenser, though his Venus in the end wins as well as
woos), and in Passionate Pilgrim, iv., vi., ix., xi. ; " the goodly
Poole " mentioned by Golding is " a well " in Spenser, and
" a brook " in Passionate Pilgrim, iv., vi., and in The Taming
of the Shrew. The bathing is in Spenser and in Passionate
Pilgrim, vi. ; the espionage, in Spenser, Passionate Pilgrim,
vi., and Taming of the Shrew ; and as regards the youth of
Adonis, in Spenser he is called " the Boy," and in the
Passionate Pilgrim we find such expressions as "young
Adonis," " the lad," " unripe years " (the same phrase occurs
in Venus and Adonis, 1. 524), "the tender nibbler," all in
iv., "a youngster," "the boy" in ix., and "young Adonis"
in xi.

Now Ovid was at some pains to state that Adonis was
not a boy but a man. In the Metamorphoses (x. 523-524),
we read :

"Nuper erat genitus, modo formosissimus infans,
lam iuvenis, iam vir, iam se formosior ipso est:
lam placet et Veneri,"

which Golding translates :

"[who] lately borne, became immediatly
The beautyfullyst babe on whom man ever set his eye.
Anon a stripling hee became, and by and by a man.
That in the end Dame Venus fell in love with him."'

Hermaphroditus, on the contrary, when he was barely
fifteen, " tria cum primum fecit quinquennia," left his native
hills and crossing through Lycia reached Caria and the pool
of Salmacis. He is called neither vir nor iuvenis (Golding's
"yongman" is, in the on^mdX, puerum), and though Golding's
Salmacis implies that he is old enough to be married Ovid
makes her ask merely if he is engaged, and the suggestion

xxxii INTRODUCTION

that he is perhaps Cupid is an evidence of youth as well
as of beauty.

In addition to the general likeness between Ovid's
Salmacis and Shakespeare's Venus, Ovid's Hermaphroditus
and Shakespeare's Adonis, there are a few resemblances in
details, which, though less convincing, seem to point in the
same direction.

Adonis " blush'd and pouted in a dull disdain,'' Herma-
phroditus " waxt red : he wist not what love was." It is
said of Venus that " she kiss'd his brow, his cheek, his chin,"
of Salmacis that " She held him still, and kissed him a
hundred times and mo." Venus says that " one sweet kiss
will pay this boundless debt," and " 'Tis but a kiss I ask,"
etc., and Salmacis " desirde most instantly but this As
to his sister brotherly to give hir there a kiss " ; Adonis's
hand, clasped by Venus, is compared to " A lily prison'd in
a gaol of snow," and Hermaphroditus under water "doth
glistringly appeare As if a man an Ivorie Image or a Lillie
white Should overlay or close with glasse " ; Adonis answers
the question, " Where did I leave ? " with " No matter
where . . . Leave me," and Hermaphroditus repeats the
same word, " Leave of [i.e. off] ... or I am gone and leeve
thee at a becke " ; Venus says, " Nay do not struggle, for thou
shalt not rise," and Salmacis, "Strive, struggle, wrest and
writhe . . . thou froward boy thy fill : Doe what thou
canst thou shalt not scape." The word " froward " here
may, or may not, be echoed in the last word of TAe Passion-
ate Pilgrim, iv. 14.

For the following extracts, added for convenience' sake,
I have used the Globe Spenser, the 1909 reprint of Golding's
Ovid, and Mr. Bullen's reprint (2nd ed., 1899) of England's
Helicon.

Faerie Queene, III. i. 34-38
XXXIV

The wals were round about apparelled

With costly cloths of Arras and of Toure,

In which with cunning hand was pourtrahed

The love of Venus and her Paramoure,

The fayre Adonis turned to a flowre;

A worfce of rare device and wondrous wit.

First did it shew the bitter balefull stowre.

Which her essayd with many a fervent fit,

When first her tender hart was with his beautie smit.

INTRODUCTION xxxiii

XXXV

Then with what sleights and sweet allurements she

Entyst the Boy, as well that art she knew,

And wooed him her Paramoure to bee,

Now making girlonds of each flowre that grew,

Now leading him into a secret shade

From his Beauperes, and from bright heavens vew.

Where him to sleepe she gently would perswade.

Or bathe him in a fountaine by some covert glade:

XXXVI

And whilst he slept she over him would spred
Her mantle, colour'd like the starry skyes,
And her soft arm lay underneath his hed,
And with ambrosiall kisses bathe his eyes ;
And whilst he bath'd with her two crafty spyes
She secretly would search each daintie lim,
And throw into the well sweet Rosemaryes,
And fragrant violets, and Paunces trim ;
And ever with sweet Nectar she did sprinkle him.

XXXVII

So did she steale his heedelesse hart away,

And joyd his love in secret unespyde:

But for she saw him bent to cruell play.

To hunt the salvage beast in forrest wyde,

Dreadfull of daunger that mote him betyde,

She oft and oft adviz'd him to refraine

From chase of greater beastes, whose brutish pryde

Mote breede him scath unwares; but all in vaine;

For who can shun the chance that dest'ny doth ordaine?

XXXVIII

Lo! where beyond he lyeth languishing,

Deadly engored of a great wilde Bore ;

And by his side the Goddesse groveling

Makes for him endlesse mone, and evermore

With her soft garment wipes away the gore

Which staynes his snowy skin with hatefull hew:

But, when she saw no helpe might him restore.

Him to a daintie flowre she did transmew.

Which in that cloth was wrought as if it lively grew.

xxxiv INTRODUCTION

The Story of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus

(Golding's Ovid's Metamorphosis, iv. 382-462)

And (as it chaunst) the selfe same time she [Salmacis]

was a sorting gayes
To make a Poisie, when she first the yongman did espie,
And in beholding him desirde to have his companie.
But though she thought she stood on thornes untill she

went to him :
Yet went she not before she had bedect hir neat and

trim,
And pride and peerd upon hir clothes that nothing sat

awrie,
And framde hir countnance as might seeme most amrous
to the eie.

Which done she thus begon : O childe most

worthie for to bee
Estemde and taken for a God, if (as thou seemste

to mee)
Thou be a God, to Cupids name thy beautie doth
agree.
Or if thou be a mortall wight, right happie folke are they,
By whome thou camste into this worlde, right happy is (I

say)
Thy mother and thy sister too (if any bee:) good hap
That woman had that was thy Nurce and gave thy

mouth hir pap.
But far above all other, far more blist than these is shee
Whome thou vouchsafest for thy wife and bedfellow too

bee.
Now if thou have alredy one, let me by stelth obtaine
That which shall pleasure both of us. Or if thou doe

remaine
A Maiden free from wedlocke bonde, let me then be thy

spouse.
And let us in the bridelie bed our selves togither rouse.
This sed, the Nymph did hold hir peace, and therewithall

the boy
Waxt red : he wist not what love was : and sure it was a

joy
To see it how exceeding well his blushing him became.
For in his face the colour fresh appeared like the same
That is in Apples which doe hang upon the Sunnie side:
Or Ivorie shadowed with a red : or such as is espide
Of white and scarlet colours mixt appearing in the Moone

INTRODUCTION xxxv

When folke in vaine with sounding brasse would ease unto

hir done.
When at the last the Nymph desirde most instantly but

this,
As to his sister brotherly to give hir there a kisse,
And therewithall was clasping him about the Ivorie

necke :
Leave of (quoth he) or I am gone, and leeve thee at a

becke
With all thy trickes. Then Salmacis began to be afraide,
And to your pleasure leave I free this place my friend

shee sayde.
With that she turnes hir backe as though she would have

gone hir way :
But evermore she looketh backe, and (closely as she may)
She hides her in a bushie queach, where kneeling on hir

knee
She alwayes hath hir eye on him. He as a child and free,
And thinking not that any wight had watched what he

did,
Romes up and downe the pleasant Mede: and by and by

amid
The flattring waves he dippes his feete, no more but first

the sole
And to the ancles afterward both feete he plungeth whole.
And for to make the matter short, he tooke so great

delight
In cooleness of the pleasant spring, that streight he

stripped quight
His garments from his tender skin. When Salmacis

behilde
His naked beautie, such strong pangs so ardently hir

hilde,
That utterly she was astraught. And even as Phebus

beames
Against a myrrour pure and clere rebound with broken

gleames :
Even so hir eyes did sparcle fire. Scarce could she

tarience make :
Scarce could she any time delay hir pleasure for to take.
She woulde have run, and in hir armes embraced him

streight way:
She was so far beside hir selfe, that scarsly could she stay.
He clapping with his hollow hands against his naked sides.
Into the water lithe and baine with armes displayed
glydes.

xxxvi INTRODUCTION

And rowing with his hands and legges swimmes in the

water cleare :
Through which his bodie faire and white doth glistringly

appeare,
As if a man an Ivorie Image or a Lillie white
Should overlay or close with glasse that were most pure
and bright.

The price is won (cride Salmacis aloud) he is

mine owne.
And therewithal! in all post hast she having
lightly throwne
Hir garments off, flew to the Poole and cast hir thereinto,
And caught him fast betweene hir armes for ought that

he could doe.
Yea maugre all his wrestling and his struggling to and

fro.
She held him still, and kissed him a hundred times and

mo.
And willde he nillde he with hir handes she toucht his

naked brest:
And now on this side now on that (for all he did resist
And strive to wrest him from hir gripes) she clung unto

him fast.
And wound about him like a Snake, which snatched up

in hast
And being by the Prince of Birdes borne lightly up aloft,
Doth writhe hir selfe about his necke and griping talants

oft,
And cast hir taile about his wings displayed in the

winde :
Or like as Ivie runnes on trees about the utter rinde:
Or as the Crabfish having caught his enmy in the Seas,
Doth claspe him in on every side with all his crooked cleas.
But Atlas nephew still persistes and utterly denies
The Nymph to have hir hoped sport: she urges
him likewise,
And pressing him with all hir weight, fast cleaving to

him still,
Strive, struggle, wrest and writhe (she said) thou froward

boy thy fill :
Doe what thou canst thou shalt not scape. Ye Goddes of

Heaven agree
That this same wilfull boy and I may never parted bee.
The Goddes were pliant to hir boone. The bodies of

them twaine
Were mixt and joyned both in one.

INTRODUCTION xxxvli

Golding's Ovid's Metamorphosis, x. 614-863

Shee [Venus] lovd Adonis more
Than heaven. To him shee dinged ay, and bare him

companye.
And in the shaddowe woont shee was to rest continually,
And for too set her beautye out most seemlye too the eye
By trimly decking of her self Through bushy grounds

and groves,
And over Hills and Dales and Lawnds and stony rocks

shee roves.
Bare kneed with garment tucked up according too the

woont
Of Phebe, and shee cheerd the hounds with hallowing like

a hunt,
Pursewing game of hurtlesse sort, as Hares made lowe

before,
Or stagges with lofty heades, or bucks. But with the

sturdy Boare,
And ravening woolf, and Bearewhelpes armd with ugly

pawes, and eeke
The cruell Lyons which delyght in blood, and slaughter

seeke,
Shee meddled not. And of theis same she warned also

thee
Adonis for too shoone them, if thou wooldst have warned

bee.
Bee bold on cowards {Venus sayd) for whoso dooth

advaunce
Himselfe against the bold, may hap too meete with sum

mischaunce.
Wherefore I pray thee my sweete boy forbeare too bold too

bee,
For feare thy rashnesse hurt thy self and woork the wo of

mee.
Encounter not the kynd of beastes whom nature armed

hath,
For dowt thou buy thy prayse too deere procuring thee

sum scath.
Thy tender youth, thy beawty bright, thy countnance fayre

and brave
Although they had the force to win the hart of Venus, have
No powre ageinst the Lyons, nor ageinst the bristled

swyne.
The eyes and harts of savage beasts doo nought too theis

inclyne.

xxxviii INTRODUCTION

The cruell Boares beare thunder in theyr hooked tushes,

and
Exceeding force and feercenesse is in Lyons too withstand,
And sure I hate them at my hart. Too him demaunding

why?
A monstrous chaunce (quoth Venus) I will tell thee by

and by.
That hapned for a fault. But now unwoonted toyle hath

made
Mee weerye: and beholde, in tyme this Poplar with his

shade
Allureth, and the ground for cowch dooth serve too rest

uppon.
I prey thee let us rest us heere. They sate them downe

anon,
And lying upward with her head uppon his lappe along,
Shee thus began : and in her tale shee bussed him among.

[Here follows the story of Atalanta ; cf The Passionate
Pilgrim, iv. 5 : " She told him stories to delight his ear."]

shonne
Theis beastes [lions], deere hart: and not from theis

alonely see thou ronne.
But also from eche other beast that turnes not backe too

flyght,
But offreth with his boystows brest too try the chaunce

of fyght:
Anemis least thy valeantnesse [(ed. ii.) Least that thyne

overhardinesse] bee hurtfull to us both.

This warning given, with yoked swannes away

through aire she goth.
But manhod by admonishment restreyned could
not bee.
By chaunce his hounds in following of the tracke, a Boare

did see,
And rowsed him. And as the swyne was comming from

the wood
Adonis hit him with a dart a skew, and drew the blood.
The Boare streyght with his hooked groyne the hunting-

stoffe out drew
Bestayned with his blood and on Adonis did pursew,
Who trembling and retyring back too place of refuge drew,
And hyding in his codds his tuskes as far as he could

thrust
He layd him all along for dead uppon the yellow dust.

INTRODUCTION xxxix

Dame Venus in her chariot drawen with swannes was

scarce arrived
At Cyprus, when shee knew a farre the sygh of him

depryved
Of lyfe. Shee turnd her Cygnets backe, and when shee

from the skye
Beehilld him dead, and in his blood beweltred for to lye,
Shee leaped downe, and tare at once hir garments from

her brist,
And rent her heare, and beate uppon her stomack with

her fist,
And blaming sore the destnyes, sayd : Yit shall they not

obteine
Their will in all things. Of my griefe remembrance shall

remayne
(Adonis) whyle the world doth last. From yeere too

yeere shall growe
A thing that of my heavinesse and of thy death shall

showe
The lively likenesse. In a flowre thy blood I will bestowe.
Hadst thou the powre Persephonee rank scented Mints too

make
Of womens limbes ? and may not I lyke powre upon mee

take
Without disdeine and spyght, too turne Adonis too a

flowre ?
This sed, shee sprinckled Nectar on the blood, which

through the powre
Therof did swell like bubbles sheere that rise in weather

cleere
On water. And before that full an howre expyred weere.
Of all one colour with the blood a flowre shee there did

fynd.
Even like the flowre of that same tree whose frute in

tender rynde
Have pleasant graynes inclosde. Howbeet the use of

them is short.
For why the leaves doo hang so looce through lightnesse

in such sort,
As that the windes that all things perce, with every little

blast
Doo shake them of and shed them so, as that they

cannot last.

xl INTRODUCTION

The Shepherd's Song of Venus and Adonis

Venus fair did ride,

Silver doves they drew her,
By the pleasant lawnds

Ere the sun did rise:
Vesta's beauty rich

Open'd wide to view her,
Philomel records

Pleasing harmonies.
Every bird of spring
Cheerfully did sing,

Paphos' goddess they salute ;
Now Love's queen so fair.
Had of mirth no care.

For her son had made her mute.
In her breast so tender
He a shaft did enter.

When her eyes beheld a boy;
Adonis was he named,
By his mother shamed,

Yet he now is Venus' joy.

Him alone she met.

Ready bound for hunting.
Him she kindly greets.

And his journey stays ;
Him she seeks to kiss,

No devices wanting,
Him her eyes still woo.

Him her tongue still prays.
He with blushing red
Hangeth down the head.

Not a kiss can he afford ;
His face is turn'd away.
Silence said her nay.

Still she woo'd him for a word.
" Speak," she said, " thou fairest,
Beauty thou impairest;

See me, I am pale and wan.
Lovers all adore me,
I for love implore thee ; "

Crystal tears with that down ran.

Him herewith she forced
To come sit down by her.

INTRODUCTION xli

She his neck embraced,

Gazing in his face;
He like one transform'd,

Stirr'd no look to eye her,
Every herb did woo him

Growing in that place.
Each bird with a ditty,
Prayed him for pity

In behalf of Beauty's queen ;
Waters' gentle murmur
Craved him to love her.

Yet no liking could be seen.
"Boy," she said, "look on me;
Still I gaze upon thee ;

Speak, I pray thee, my delight!"
Coldly he replied.
And in brief denied
To bestow on her a sight.

" I am now too young

To be won by beauty,
Tender are my years,

I am yet a bud."
" Fair thou art," she said,

"Then it is thy duty,
Wert thou but a blossom.

To effect my good.
Every beauteous flower
Boasteth in my power,

Birds and beasts my laws effect;
Myrrh a, thy fair mother.
Most of any other

Did my lovely bests respect.
Be with me delighted.
Thou shalt be requited.

Every nymph on thee shall tend ;
All the gods shall love thee,
Man shall not reprove thee,

Love himself shall be thy friend."

" Wend thee from me, Venus ;

I am not disposed ;
Thou wring'st me too hard ;

Prithee, let me go.
Fie, what a pain it is

Thus to be enclosed !

xlii INTRODUCTION

If love begin with labour,

It will end in woe."
" Kiss me, I will leave."
" Here a kiss receive."

"A short kiss I doe it find.
Wilt thou leave me so?
Yet thou shalt not go.

Breathe once more thy balmy wind ;
It smelleth of the myrrh-tree,
That to the world did bring thee;

Never was perfume so sweet."
When she thus had spoken.
She gave him a token.

And their naked bosoms meet.

"Now," he said, "let's go.

Hark, the hounds are crying !
Grisly boar is up;

Huntsmen follow fast."
At the name of boar,

Venus seeftied dying.
Deadly-coloured pale

Roses overcast.
" Speak," said she, " no more
Of following the boar.

Thou, unfit for such a chase.
Course the fearful hare.
Venison do not spare.

If thou wilt yield Venus grace.
Shun the boar, I pray thee,
Else I still will stay thee."

Herein he vow'd to please her mind.
Then her arms enlarged,
Loth she him discharged ;

Forth he went as swift as wind.

Thetis Phoebus' steeds

In the west retained.
Hunting-sport was past,

Love her Love did seek.
Sight of him too soon.

Gentle queen, she gained;
On the ground he lay,

Blood had left his cheek.

INTRODUCTION xliii

For an orped swine
Smit him in the groin;

Deadly wound his death did bring.
Which when Venus found,
She fell in a swound,
And, awaked, her hands did wring.
Nymphs and satyrs skipping,
Came together tripping.

Echo every cry express'd ;
Venus by her power
Turn'd him to a flower,

Which she weareth in her crest.

xliv INTRODUCTION

II

LUCRECE

LUCRECE was entered in the Stationers' Register, 1594
(Arber, ii. 648), as follows :

9 maij

Master Entred for his copie vnder thand
harrison of master Cawood Warden, a
Senior booke intituled the Ravyshement
of Lucrece vi'' C

In the same year it was published with the title page :

Lucrece, | [Device — anchor suspended by hand and motto
— differing only in details from that in Q i of Venus
and Adonis] \ London. | Printed by Richard Field, for
John Harison, and are | to be sold at the signe of the
white Greyhound | in Paules Church-yard . 1594.^

Eight editions are known to have been printed in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, viz., in 1594, 1598, 1600,
1607, 1616, 1621, 1632, and 1655. Of these, thirty copies are
extant. Malone was probably mistaken in supposing that
the poem was reprinted in 1596 and 1602. In the edition of
1 616 the title was changed from "Lucrece" to " The Rape
of Lucrece," and Shakespeare's name appeared for the first
time.

In construction and decoration Lucrece resembles Venus
and Adonis, as it resembles the Elizabethan novel. Incidents
are interspersed with speeches, one circumstance is illustrated
by more than one simile, and there are conceits and figures of
speech that might be spared. But the tone is changed ; it may,
in fact, be the " graver labour " promised to Southampton.
It is to Venus and Adonis as The Cotter's Saturday Night
to The Jolly Beggars, at once less interesting and more
respectable ; and the difference arises from the nature of the
case rather than from its presentation. Darkness and closed
doors, though they may " have it in them to please the wiser
sort," are less universal in their appeal than sunshine and
open country. The poems have been too lightly regarded as
companion pictures, almost comparable to U Allegro and //
Penseroso, where a grave cheerfulness stands in harmonious
' The running title was "The Rape of Lucrece."

INTRODUCTION xlv

contrast to a gentle melancholy. Each has, no doubt, its
own setting and accompaniments, day or night, skylark or
screech-owl, but between them there is the gulf that separates
comedy and tragedy. They are not merely or mainly twin
studies of unlicensed passion in opposite sexes. Venus is no
unfaithful wife answerable to an outraged society and a
betrayed husband, but a heathen goddess exercising, as
Shakespeare is careful to remind us, the rights of her office
within her own jurisdiction, and neither recognising nor
responsible to human laws. Adonis runs no danger that we
cannot contemplate with equanimity. He is secure in his
indifference, and his sufferings are those of a child's kitten
teased and petted when it would be happier in the amuse-
ments of its kind. Even if the wiles of Venus had succeeded,
there would be something almost ludicrous in lamenting his
fate in words which when used of Lucrece are natural and
affecting :

" No man inveigh against the wither'd flower.
But chide rough winter that the flower hath kill'd."

We can read the story without amazement at the depravity
of a Messalina, or respect for the self-reverence of another
Hercules, hero of a virtuous choice. But in Shakespeare's
Lucrece there is a sense of irreparable agonies and of unforgiv-
able cruelty. Ovid has a lighter touch and appeals to softer
feelings. He has given us a beautiful poem by refusing to
look stedfastly on what is, in its essence, revolting. There
is pity for the victim, but it merges in admiration of
the sad courage of the suicide. His Lucrece is not only a
wronged woman, but a type of national virtue and the cause
of a national deliverance. That this was his view, how-
ever, is to be gathered from the general tone of his poem,
and from the fact that it forms part of the Fasti, rather
than from any direct statement. He does not, like Livy,
enlarge on the king's misgovern ment, or include in his
narrative the speech in which Brutus denounced tyranny, but
the expulsion of the Tarquins is his real subject. His poem
opens with the words, " Nunc mihi dicenda est regis fuga,"
and closes with " dies regnis ilia suprema fuit." He was not,
like Shakespeare, intent on the guilt and the shame. The
truth had to be told, but it might be so told as not to detract
from the charm and beauty of his verses. It was impossible
to exonerate Tarquin, and, indeed, undesirable. Ovid, in
fact, relates his betrayal of Gabii, and represents him as
encouraging himself in his new infamy by the recollection of
the success of the old. But unpleasantness, if inevitable, may

xlvi INTRODUCTION

yet be qualified. By a dexterous hand, facts may be so com-
bined or distributed as to produce less than their natural
effect. Thus, the relationship of Tarquin to Collatinus was
an aggravation of Tarquin's guilt, and it could not be sup-
pressed. Ovid does not attempt to suppress it, but he
mentions it incidentally as explaining Lucrece's welcome:
" Comiter excipitur ; sanguine iunctus erat." Not so Shake-
speare :

" But as he is my kinsman, my dear friend.
The shame and fault finds no excuse or end."

The disposition of the facts is of more importance than the
facts themselves. It is not the details but the atmosphere
and the values that differentiate the work of Ovid, Chaucer,
and Shakespeare. The colour of Lucrece's hair, the incentive
of her purity, the simile of the wolf and the lamb, are common
to them all. Chaucer, indeed, follows Ovid so closely as to
translate his first line, giving as his subject " the exilynge of
kynges," but he corrects himself in a moment : " Yet for that
cause tell I nat this story." His object is to describe the
fidelity of a wife. Women, he thinks, are like Lucrece ; men
are different. Shakespeare, aware of the political aspect of
the story, relegates it to his Argument, and disposes of the
exiling of kings in the two last lines of his poem. Our
attention is concentrated on the wrong and the suffering.
What Ovid recognises with a half-averted glance, Shakespeare
brings into the light of day, and omits, like Chaucer, even the
trifling circumstance that might impair, if only for an instant,
our sympathy with Collatinus. For Collatinus, in Ovid,
first meets us as one of a company of idlers who discuss
their wives over their wine, and finally set out to test them,
angry and half drunk. In Shakespeare, we see Collatinus
through his wife's eyes. There is nothing to suggest either
a quarrel or intemperance. " In that pleasant humour," says
the Argument, " they all posted to Rome." The incident, as
related by Ovid, does not palliate Tarquin's guilt; Shake-j
speare could omit it without tampering with the truth, and
he did so, most probably, because its presence might strike
a false note, and its omission enables us to give our full
sympathy to Collatinus, and our whole attention to the crime
and its immediate consequences.

On the other hand, even at the risk of being tedious,
Shakespeare passes slowly before our eyes every circum-
stance that can help to exhibit the utter repulsiveness of
Tarquin, whose debates and vacillations have neither the
purpose nor the effect of showing him as a weak man

INTRODUCTION xlvii

struggling against passion, or hesitating between good and
evil. They only bring into prominence, one by one, all the
bonds that he must sunder before rushing on dishonour, and
the least of these should have been enough to restrain him.
If he reflects on Collatinus as his kinsman and friend, on
Lucrece as his hostess, on his own knighthood and reputation,
it is to exhibit him more surely as a traitor to kinship and
friendship, to the laws of hospitality and of honour. No
claim is forgotten in a storm of passion ; each is steadily
regarded and deliberately set aside.

A determination to leave nothing of the truth untold
would seem to be accountable also for the length of certain
scenes and soliloquies in the latter part of the poem. The
change in Lucrece herself is a measure of her distress. From a
gracious hostess she is transformed into a bitter and suspicious
mistress, distrusting her servants even in their sympathy and
devotion. She thirsts for vengeance. An agony of suspense
drives her distracted through her own house, and causes her
to see in its very hangings representations of her own misery
and of the guile and cruelty that have destroyed her peace.
She must have spent moments

"divided by keen pangs
Till they seemed years ; "

and the fact is brought home to us by a multiplicity of details.
Suspense and distraction cannot be adequately rendered by
the brevity of z precis.

The whole episode of the painting with its incidents from
the siege of Troy has been objected to as an excrescence on
the story, and defended on the ground that the destruction
of the house of Priam through a man's lust is a fitting counter-
part of the overthrow of the Tarquins. But this is the stand-
point of a moralist with a knowledge of subsequent events.
Lucrece could know nothing of the Regifugium or of the battle
of Lake Regillus. It is enough that she could find in Hecuba
an abandonment to misery similar to her own, and in Sinon
a type of Tarquin. The parallel is not between the mis-
fortunes of Priam due to Paris and the misfortunes of
Tarquinius Superbus due to Sextus; but between Lucrece
and Troy. " So," says Lucrece, " my Troy did perish." The
introduction of the hangings is of course an anachronism,
but not without a precedent : Virgil's ^neas had been deeply
moved by the discovery of scenes from the fall of Troy
depicted in the Temple of Juno at Carthage {^n. i. 453-493).
In general, Shakespeare's treatment here corresponds with
d

xlviii INTRODUCTION

his treatment of the scenes in which the maid and the groom
are present. In a story of adventure, such incidents would
be unnoticed or briefly dismissed ; not so in a poem, narrative
only in form, where they are of importance in revealing the
depths of Lucrece's despair.

Another parallel to the account of the tapestry has been
cited from Daniel's Complaint of Rosamond. Rosamond's
ghost describes a casket sent her by Henry II. and adorned
with representations of the stories of Amymone and Neptune,
and of lo and Jupiter, which might have served as pre-
monitions of her own fate. The examination of this casket
occupied Rosamond, while she was waiting for the king, and
Shakespeare may have wished by his similar device to bridge
over the interval between the sending of the messenger and
the coming of Collatinus and his friends. That so slight a
hint was so well taken need not greatly detract from our
admiration of his originality. "The sun's a thief," and we
have, in consequence, the pageants of dawn and sunset.
Shakespeare had on the one hand a gap in his story, on the
other six commonplace stanzas of Daniel, and with these he
not only effected his immediate purpose as a constructor, but
displayed what is ostensibly a magnificent panorama of the
siege of Troy, and in reality a miracle of self-revelation on
the part of his heroine.

Malone was the first to point out resemblances between
Rosamond and Lucrece, citing the first edition. A useful
summary of these will be found in Mr. Sidney Lee's Introduc-
tion. I have added a few, using the edition of Chalmers
(1850), and referring to Rosamond by stanza, and to Lucrece
by line.

"Ah Beauty . . .
Sweet silent rhetorick of persuading eyes,
Dumb eloquence "... {Rosamond, 19)

" Beauty itself doth of itself persuade
The eyes of men without an orator." {Lucrece, 29, 30)

" Vulture ambition." {Rosamond, 27)

"vulture folly." {Lucrece, 556)

" Th' ungather'd rose defended with the thorns."

{Rosamond, 31)
" I know what thorns the growing rose defends."

{Lucrece, 492)

INTRQE>UCTION xlix

"Cancell'd with time, well have his date expir'd."

{Rosamond, 36)
" An expir'd date, cancell'd ere well begun."

[Lucrece, 26)

" So rare that Art did seem to strive with Nature."

{Rosamond, 54)

" In scorn of nature, art gave lifeless life."

{Lucrece, 1374)

"These precedents presenting to my view."

{Rosamond, 59)

"The precedent whereof in Lucrece view."

{Lucrece, 1261)

"Com'd was the Night (mother of Sleep and Fear)."

{Rosamond, 62)
" Till sable Night, mother of dread and fear."

{Lucrece, 117)

"wanting what we have." {Rosamond, loi)

"what they have not, that which they possess."

{Lucrece, 135)

"The husband scorn'd, dishonoured the kin,
Parents disgrac'd, children infamous been,
Confus'd our race, and falsified our blood."

{Rosamond, 108)
" So thy surviving husband shall remain
The scornful mark of every open eye ;
Thy kinsmen hang their heads at this disdain.
Thy issue blurr'd with nameless bastardy."

{Lucrece, 519-522)

"Amaz'd he stands, nor voice nor body stirs;

Words had no passage, tears no issue found,

For sorrow shut up words, wrath kept in tears;

Confus'd effects each other do confound ;

Oppress'd with grief, his passions had no bound.

Striving to tell his woes, .words would not come;

For light cares speak, when mighty griefs are dumb."

{Rosamond, 113)
This description of Henry Ii.'s grief on finding Rosamond dead
may be compared with that of Collatinus {Lucrece, 1779-1785).

It is likely that Shakespeare had read Daniel's Rosamond,
but such resemblances are often accidental, especially in the

1 INTRODUCTION

case of authors speaking the same language and writing on
similar subjects. Thus, in Greene's Princelie Mirrour [i.e.
pattern] of Peereles Modestie,'^\i\c!a. is The History of Susanna
euphuised and padded with speeches, and in which Tarquin's
crime is attempted by the Elders, and his threat used to no
purpose, there are several passages which might have given
hints to Shakespeare. As Greene's novel is in prose, the
verbal resemblances are slighter than those in Rosamond, but
there is perhaps a greater similarity of meaning and context.
The quotations that follow are from Grosart's Greene, vol. iii.

Greene, p. 14 : " Yield to the alarums of inordinate lust."
Cf. Zatr^c^, 433 : "his beating heart, alarum striking,
Gives the hot charge."

Greene, p. 15: "he might find fit opportunity to give the

onset."
Lucrece, 432 : (His veins) " Swell in their pride, the onset

still expecting."

Greene, p. 17: "These two . . . concluded ... to suck

the bloude of this innocent lambe."
Lucrece, 677: "The wolf hath seiz'd his prey, the poor

lamb cries."

Greene, p. 19: " If we ofifende in being to [i.e. too] bould,

your beautie shall beare the blame."
Lucrece, 485: "Thy beauty hath ^nsnar'd thee to this

night."

Greene, p. 19: "That sin which is secretlie committed is
alwaies half pardoned : she liveth chastelie enough that
liveth warely."

Lucrece, 527: "The fault unknown is as a thought un-
acted."

Greene, p. 19: "Our office shall be able to defende you
from mistrust . . . you shall . . . purchase to your
selfe two such friends as you may in all duetifull service
commaunde."

Lucrece, 526: "But if thou yield, I rest thy secret friend."

Greene, 20: "Hath God placed you as Judges over his
people to punish sinne, and will you maintaine wicked-
nes ? Is it your office to upholde the lawe, and will you
destroy it ? "

Lucrece, 624-630 : " Hast thou command . . .
Draw not thy sword to guard iniquity,
For it was lent thee all that brood to kill.
Thy princely office how canst thou fulfil," etc.

INTRODUCTION li

Greene, p. 27 : '' my poore babes shall be counted as the

seede of an harlot."
Lucrece, 522: "Thy issue blurr'd with nameless bastardy."

Greene, p. 34 : " knowe you not how that partie is seene
condemned whose death the Judges do conspire ? "

Lucrece, 1652: "And when the judge is robb'd, the
prisoner dies."

Whether Shakespeare was influenced by The Complaint
of Rosamond in his choice of a metre for Lucrece, as he has
been supposed to have taken frorh Glaucus and Scilla the
metre of Venus and Adonis, it is of course impossible to say.
The former was recognised as suitable for tragical matters
and the latter for lighter, including love, and he may merely
have followed the prescriptions of contemporary writers on
Prosody. The metre of Lucrece, sometimes called the Chau-
cerian stanza and Rime Royal (a name wrongly attributed to
its use in The Kingis Quair), had already been written by
Chaucer himself, by many of the Scottish poets in the
fifteenth century, by Sackville {Induction, and The Complaint
of Buckingham) and by Spenser {Ruines of Time). It was
perhaps the commonest of all metres then. James VI. of
Scotland, in his Reulis and Cautelis of Scottis Poesie, had
quoted a stanza with the advice: "For tragicall materis,
complaintis, or testamentis, use this kynde of verse, callit
Troilus verse"; and Gascoigne had described it at length:
' Rythme royall is a verse of tenne sillables, and seven such
verses make a stafife, whereof the first and third lines do
aunswer (acrosse) in like terminations and rime, the second,
fourth, and fifth, do likewise answere eche other in
terminations, and the two last do combine and shut up the
Sentence: this hath bene called Rithme royall, & surely it
is a royall kinde of verse, serving best for grave discourses."
It is a metre which lends itself to freer handling than that
of Venus and Adonis, and Shakespeare handles it more
freely, though by no means with the mastery of Chaucer.
His improvement on the practice of the time lies rather in
the greater freedom of movement within the line than in his
management of the stanza as a whole. He may have learnt
from Spenser to pass without jolt or effort from line to
line, but even Spenser's stanzas are somewhat monotonous.
Gascoigne gives Chaucer unstinted praise, but cannot be said
to have caught his secret, or realised his supremacy as a
metrist. His own stanzas seem made by rule, and his pre-
cepts do not favour flexibility. " There are also," he says,

lii II^TRODUCTION

"certayne pauses or rests in a verse whiche may be called
Ceasures, whereof I woulde be lothe to stande long, since it is
at the discretion of the wryter, but they have bene iirst
devised (as should seeme) by the Musicians : but yet thus
much I will adventure to wryte, that in mine opinion . . , in
a verse of tenne [syllables, the pause] . , . will best be placed
at the ende of the first foure sillables. ... In Rithme royall,
it is at the wryters discretion, and forceth not where the pause
be untill the end of the Hne." In other words, he prefers a
pause at the end of the fourth syllable of decasyllabic lines,
except when they combine to form the stanza of Rime
Royal ; and then the exact place of the pause becomes a
matter of indifference, provided the line is end-stopped. He
does not seem to be aware that the words between any two
pauses form a sort of metrical unit, varying in number of
syllables, number and place of accents, etc., and that the
felicity of a rhythm largely depends on the relation borne by
each of these units to those which precede and follow it.

As to the number of syllables in each line, it is not
easy to know whether Shakespeare may not sometimes have
desired to vary from the usual ten, i.e. nine followed by the
rime. In Venus and Adonis, 11. 668,670: " That tremble at
th' imagination . . . And fear doth teach it divination," it is
possible to take the riming words as of six and five syllables
respectively (though in Shakespeare they are usually of five
and four) and to regard the rimes as single. If the rimes are
not single, the lines are a foot short. Again, the lines 758,
760, "Seeming to bury that posterity ... If thou destroy
them not in dark obscurity," do not match: if the rime is
single, the latter line is an alexandrine, and if triple, the
former is only of four feet. The difficulty would be removed
by omitting the first two words of 1. 760, but for this we
have no warrant. There is a similar case in Lucrece, 11. 352,
354: "My will is back'd with resolution . . . The blackest
sin is clear'd with absolution." If this stood alone, the defect
of 1. 352 might be supplied by reading " dauntless resolution "
(Capell MS.), and though some might prefer an epithet for
" will," this is not a bad emendation. We find " the dauntless
spirit of resolution" in King John, V. i. 53, and if the meta-
phor, as seems likely, is from a horse and not from the edge
of a knife, it is paralleled by " Let thy dauntless mind Still
ride in triumph over all mischance," in S Henry VI., III.
iii. 17.

The subject of Shakespeare's rimes is too large to be
treated here ; it could only be dealt with adequately in con-
nection with Elizabethan pronunciation, a subject already

INTRODUCTION liii

treated by Ellis, Early English Pronunciation, E.E.T.S., and
by Professor Victor of Marburg, A Shakespeare Phonology
(1906), and, less directly, by many other distinguished writers
on changes in English sounds.

The sources of Lucrece are probably to be found in the
books most readily accessible to Shakespeare, and these are
more likely to have been Ovid, Livy, Chaucer, Gower, than,
for example, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Vincent of Beauvais,
or Zonaras. The following passage from the late Dr.
Furnivall's Introduction contains all that is really necessary,
but I have added a little by way of supplement or ex-
planation.

"Prof T. Spencer Baynes has put in an eloquent
plea for Ovid being its real source (see Eraser's Mag.,
May, 1880, p. 629-637): 'The germ . . . was derived from
Ovid . . . from the vivid dramatic sketch of the Tragedy
which closes the second book of the Fasti.' The Professor
has shown, I think, that Shakspere no doubt got his ' golden
threads' (1. 400) of Lucrece's hair, from Ovid's flavique
capilli ; that he may have taken his

' Haply that name of " chaste " unhaply set
This batelesse edge on his keene appetite'

(1. 8-9)

from Ovid's words that Sextus was pleazd with Lucrece,
because she was not corruptible ' quod corrumpere non est ' ;
that he may have taken (1. 677) Ovid's simile of the wolf
and the lamb — a natural one to any poet — from Ovid, as,
by the way, Chaucer (and Gower) did before him : —

' Ryght as a wolfe that fynt a lambe alone.
To whom shall she compleyne, or make mone ? '

{Legende, 1. 1798-9)

and that Shakspere may also have got from Ovid's —

'Quid, victor, gaudes? haec te victoria perdet.
Heu ! quanto regnis nox stetit una tuis ! '

'his repetition in various forms (see lines 717-721 and
693-714) . . • that the victory was a defeat, and would
inevitably issue in Tarquin's destruction.'

"Though Prof Baynes's strenuous arguing leaves one
under the impression that he wants to make Ovid the
only source of Shakspere's Lucrece, yet his words, and his
slight of Painter's Palace of Pleasure (p. 637), nowhere assert
that claim. He maintains that Shakspere did use Ovid.

liv INTRODUCTION

I grant he did ; and I firmly believe that he used Livy, or
some other Latin historian too. For when we take with
the poem, as we are bound to do, the admirably-stated
prose 'Argument' set before it — Shakspere's only long
piece of non-dramatic prose — we see at once that Shakespere
has in that, details which Ovid did not give him. Neglecting
the first lines about Tarquinius Superbus, and the general
feeling that we are dealing with an Abstract of a (so-calld)
History, we find the statement that, on Lucrece's call, her
father came ' accompanyed with Junius Brutus,' and Collatine
'with Publius Valerius.' The latter is not mentioned by
Ovid, who only says that the father and the husband both
came to Lucrece — impliedly alone — and that when she had
stabd herself, ' Brutus adest', Brutus is by. Livy and Painter
both give the companions' names. Again, the first part of
Shakspere's statement that 'bearing the dead body to
Rome ' Brutus told the people ' of the vile deede,' is neither
in Ovid, Livy, nor Painter. Chaucer may have been the
source of this statement, as he — though professing to follow
Ovid and Livy only — puts Lucrece's self-murder at Rome,
(so does Gower,) and makes her carried through all the
town on a bier, whereas Livy and Ovid both make her
body shown in Ardea only. (Shakspere can have got
nothing from Lydgate's long list in his Falles of Princes
(bk. II., ch. v., and III., v.), or from Valerius Maximus {Fact,
et Diet. Mem. Lib. VI. i. i), Diodorus Siculus or Dio Cassius
(who each tell the story very shortly) or Dionysius Hali-
carnassensis, iv. 72, who tells it at great length. Both
Diodorus and Dionysius make Sextus offer to marry
Lucrece and turn her into a Queen.) Further, I think that
Shakspere's account of Sextus pressing Lucrece's breast
with his hand.

His hand, as proud of such a dignitie
Smoaking with pride, marcht on to take his stand
On her bare breast, the heart of all her land ;
Whose ranks of blew vains, as his hand did scale.
Left their round turrets destitute and pale,

is rather from Livy's sinistraque manu mulieris pectore
oppresso, than Ovid's positis urgentur pectora palmis, which
(with its context) implies that Sextus put his right hand
(which held his sword), as well as his left on Lucrece's
breasts."

Malone, who refers to the forms of the story mentioned
by Furnivall, adds: " In 1558 was entered on the Stationers'

INTRODUCTION Iv

books, ' A ballet called The grevious complaint of Lucrece,'
licensed to John Aide; and in 1569 was licensed to James
Roberts, 'A ballad of the death of Lucryssia.' There was
also a ballad of the legend of Lucrece, printed in 1576.
Some of these, Mr. Warton thinks, probably suggested this
story to our author." Those who are desirous of pursuing
the subject will be helped by the long list of references in
CEsterley's Gesta Romanorum, p. 734, where, however, no
English work is named but Shakespeare's, and to three
papers on Shakespeare's poem — Shakespearis Lucrece. Eine
litterarhistorische Untersuchung — which appeared in Anglia,
Band xxii. pp. 1-32, 343-363, 393-4SS (Halle, 1899), by Dr.
Wilhelm Ewig, to which Mr. Sidney Lee refers in his
Introduction. Mr. Lee notes that Shakespeare's reference
to Brutus as a court fool may have its source in a novel of
Bandello's — Furnivall had searched Bandello, and Belle-
forest's Histoires Tragiques, in vain — and that a sympathising
handmaiden appears in the French tragedy of Lucrece, as
in Shakespeare's poem.

In all forms of the story hitherto discovered, from
Cicero's mere reference {De Finibus, v. 22) to the long
narratives of Dionysius of Halicarnassus and I3andello, there
are differences of colouring and detail due to the writer's
knowledge or ignorance or to the character of his immediate
purpose. Thus Valerius Maximus, whose Memorabilia
might almost be translated "Tit-Bits," flippantly laments
that Lucrece was less masculine in body than in mind,
cuius virilis animus maligna errore fortunae m,uliebre corpus
sortitus est. St. Augustine {De Civitate Dei, i. 19) discusses
her conduct as a case of conscience in connection with the
reproaches levelled at Christian slaves because when obliged
by their condition to submit to outrage they continued to
live. The slaves, he thinks, are right, and Lucrece's death
is rather a surrender to shame than a triumph of virtue —
non est pudicitiae caritas, sed pudoris infirmitas. He appeals
to Roman law, which does not permit the guilty to be slain
uncondemned;L3'nd to Roman poetry (Virgil, yEn. vi. 434-
436, and 438, 439), which represents suicides in the under-world
as vainly desirous of returning to life ; and he places those
who praise Lucrece on the horns of this dilemma — she was
an adulteress if her mind consented, and if not, a murderess :
" Si adultera, cur laudata, si pudica, cur occisa f " The author
of the story in the Gesta Romanorum (Latin text ed.
CEsterley, 135 ; not in English) cites St. Augustine as his
authority but shows no knowledge of his version. Tarquin

Ivi INTRODUCTION

comes, as in Livy, with a sword in his right hand and places
his left on Lucrece's breast, and Ovid's words, "hospesut
hostis," appear in the form "non ut hospes sed ut hostis,"
and again, in Lucrece's denunciation of Tarquin, as "hostis
pro hospite," while "vestimenta viri alieni in lecto tuo" is
from Livy, "vestimenta" being a blunder for "vestigia."
The addition to the number of those present at Lucrece's death
involves one anachronism at least — " patrem et maritum, fratres
et imperatorem, nepotes et proconsules vocavit per litteras."
This may possibly be an expansion of Eutropius, who says
that Lucrece complained to her husband, father, and friends.
Even Chaucer and Gower differ in what they omit or insert
or add. Chaucer has the fine simile in which Tarquin's
tumultuous memories of Lucrece are compared to the ground-
swell after a storm. Gower {Confessio A mantis, vii. 4752-
5123) omits it, but anticipates Shakespeare in making
Collatinus the subject of Tarquin's conversation with Lucrece
on his arrival :

"And him, so as sche dar, opposeth
Hou it stod of hire housebonde.
And he tho dede hire understonde
With tales feigned in his wise,
Riht as he wolde himself devise,
Wherof he myhte hire herte glade,
That sche the betre chiere made.
When sche the glade wordes herde,
Hou that hire housebonde ferde."

On the other hand, Shakespeare does not follow Gower
in attributing Sextus Tarquinius's crime to his brother
" Arrons," and he writes " CoUatium '' for " Collatia '' where
Gower more correctly has " Collacea."

Gower, again, differs from Chaucer in making no mention
of St. Augustine, though in his second and shorter narrative
{Confessio Amantis, viii. 2632—2639) there is possibly an echo
oi pudoris infirmitas in the line,

" Bot deide only for drede of schame."

I have not thought it necessary to enter on the consider-
ation of Shakespeare's scholarship. There was no English
translation of the Fasti, or of Livy, unless we regard as
English Bellenden's vigorous Scottish version of the first
five books (1533). The knowledge required to read Ovid
for the story, or even Livy, is very slight. Shakespeare
probably had more than enough, and, if otherwise, might,

Introduction ivii

like Bacon, have availed himself of the greater learning of
others. Painter's narrative is so like Livy's that I have given
it instead, and indeed Shakespeare may have used it. As I
do not know any translation of Ovid which sounds in the
least like the original, I have preferred to print the Latin.

Ovid, Fasti, ii. 685-852
(Teubner ed., 1884)

Nunc mihi dicenda est regis fuga. traxit ab ilia

Sextus ab extremo nomina mense dies.
Ultima Tarquinius Romanae gentis habebat

Regna, vir iniustus fortis ad arma tamen.

[Here follows the story of Gabii.]

Cingitur interea Romanis Ardea signis,

Et patitur lentas obsidione moras.
Dum vacat, et metuunt hostes committere pugnam,

Luditur in castris, otia miles agit.
Tarquinius iuvenis socios dapibusque meroque

Accipit. ex illis rege creatus ait:
"Dum nos difficilis pigro tenet Ardea bello,

Nee sinit ad patrios arma referre deos,
Ecquid in officio torus est socialis? et ecquid

Coniugibus nostris mutua cura sumus?"
Quisque suam laudat. studiis certamina crescunt,

Et fervent multo linguaque corque mero.
Surgit, cui dederat clarum Collatia nomen:

" Non opus est verbis, credite rebus ! " ait.
" Nox superest. tollamur equis, Urbemque petamus ! "

Dicta placent, frenis impediuntur equi.
Pertulerant dominos. regalia protinus illi

Tecta petunt : custos in fore nuUus erat :
Ecce nurus regis fusis per colla coronis

Inveniunt posito pervigilare mero.
Inde cito passu petitur Lucretia : nebat,

Ante torum calathi lanaque mollis erat.
Lumen ad exiguum famulae data pensa trahebant:

Inter quas tenui sic ait ipsa sono :
" Mittenda est domino — nunc, nunc properate, puellae ! —

Quamprimum nostra facta lacerna manu.
Quid tamen auditis ? nam plura audire potestis :

Quantum de bello dicitur esse super?
Postmodo victa cades ! melioribus, Ardea, restas !

Improba, quae nostros cogis abesse viros.

Iviii INTRODUCTION

Sint tantum reduces! sed enim temerarius ille

Est meus, et stricto quolibet ense ruit.
Mens abit et morior, quotiens pugnantis imago

Me subit, et gelidum pectora frigus habet."
Desinit in lacrimas, intentaque fila remittit,

In gremio voltum deposuitque suum.
Hoc ipsum decuit : lacrimae decuere pudicae,

Et facies animo dignaque parque fuit.
" Pone metum, venio ! " coniunx ait. ilia revixit,

Deque viri coUo dulce pependit onus.
Interea iuvenis furiatos regius ignis

Conc'ipit, et caeco raptus amore furit.
Forma placet, niveusque color, flavique capilli,

Quique aderat nulla factus ab arte decor:
Verba placent et vox et quod corrumpere non est;

Quoque minor spes est, hoc magis ille cupit.
lam dederat cantus lucis praenuntius ales,

Cum referunt iuvenes in sua castra pedem.
Carpitur attonitos absentis imagine sensus

Ille. recordanti plura magisque placent.
Sic sedit, sic culta fuit, sic stamina nevit,

Neglectae collo sic iacuere comae,
Hos habuit voltus, haec illi verba fuerunt.

Hie color, haec facies, hie decor oris erat.
Ut solet a magno fluctus languescere flatu,

Sed tamen a vento, qui fuit, unda tumet,
Sic quamvis aberat placitae praesentia formae,

Quem dederat praesens forma, manebat amor.
Ardet, et iniusti stimulis agitatur amoris.

Comparat indigno vimque dolumque toro.
" Exitus in dubio est : audebimus ultima ! " dixit,

"Viderit, audentes forsne deusne iuvet.
Cepimus audendo Gabios quoque." talia fatus

Ense latus cinxit, tergaque pressit equi.
Accipit aerata iuvenem Collatia porta,

Condere iam voltus sole parante sues.
Hostis, ut hospes, init penetralia CoUatina:

Comiter excipitur; sanguine iunctus erat.
Quantum animis erroris inest ! parat inscia rerum

Infelix epulas hostibus ilia suis.
Functus erat dapibus : poscunt sua tempora somnum ;

Nox erat et tota lumina nulla domo.
Surgit et auratum vagina liberat ensem,

Et venit in thalamos, nupta pudica, tuos.
Utque torum pressit, " ferrum, Lucretia mecum est !

Natus" ait "regis Tarquiniusque loquor."

INTRODUCTION lix

Ilia nihil : neque enim vocem viresque loquendi,

Aut aliquid toto pectore mentis habet.
Sed tremit, ut quondam stabulis deprensa relictis

Parva sub infesto cum iacet agna lupo.
Quid faciat? pugnet? vincetur femina pugnans.

Clamet? at in dextra, qui vetet, ensis erat.
Effugiat? positis urguentur pectora palmis,

Tunc primum externa pectora tacta manu.
Instat amans hostis precibus pretioque minisque:

Nee prece, nee pretio, nee movet ilia minis.
" Nil agis 1 eripiam " dixit " per crimina vitam :

Falsus adulterii testis adulter ero:
Interimam famulum, cum quo deprensa fereris."

Succubuit famae victa puella metu.
Quid, victor, gaudes? haec te victoria perdet.

Heu quanto regnis nox stetit una tuis !
lamque erat orta dies, passis stetit ilia capillis,

Ut solet ad nati mater itura rogum:
Grandaevumque patrem fido cum coniuge castris

Evocat. et posita venit uterque mora.
Utque vident habitum, quae luctus causa, requirunt,

Cui paret exequias, quove sit icta malo?
Ilia diu reticet, pudibundaque celat amictu

Ora: fluunt lacrimae more perennis aquae.
Hinc pater, hinc coniunx lacrimas solantur, et orant,

Indicet, et caeco flentque paventque metu.
Ter conata loqui ter destitit: ausaque quarto,

Non oculos ideo sustulit ilia suos.
" Hoc quoque Tarquinio debebimus ? eloquar," inquit,

"Eloquar infelix dedecus ipsa meum?"
Quaeque potest, narrat. restabant ultima : flevit,

Et matronales erubuere genae.
Dant veniam facto genitor coniunxque coactae:

"Quam" dixit "veniam vos datis, ipsa nego."
Nee mora, celato fixit sua pectora ferro,

Et cadit in patrios sanguinolenta pedes.
Tunc quoque, iam moriens, ne non procumbat honeste,

Respicit. haec etiam cura cadentis erat.
Ecce super corpus, communia damna gementes,

Obliti decoris, virque paterque iacent.
Brutus adest, tandemque animo sua nomina fallit,

Fixaque semianimi corpore tela rapit,
Stillantemque tenens generoso sanguine cultrum

Edidit impavidos ore minante sonos :
" Per tibi ego hunc iuro fortem castumque cruorem,

Perque tuos manes, qui mihi numen erunt,

Ix INTRODUCTION

Tarquinium profuga poenas cum stirpe daturum.

lam satis est virtus dissimulata diu."
Ilia iacens ad verba oculos sine lumine movit,

Visaque concussa dicta probare coma.
Fertur in exequias animi ttiatrona virilis

Et secum lacrimas invidiamque trahit.
Volnus inane patet. Brutus clamore Quirites

Concitat, et regis facta nefanda refert.
Tarquinius cum prole fugit. capit annua consul

lura: dies regnis ilia suprema fuit.

Chaucer, The Legende of Good Women, 11. 1680-1885
Incipit Legenda Lucrecie, Rome, Martiris

Now mote I sayne the exilynge of kynges
Of Rom^, for here horrible doynges ;
Of the last^ kynge Tarquinius
As sayth Ovyde, and Titus Lyvius.
But for that causd tell I nat this story,
But for to preyse, and drawen to memory
The verray wife, the verray trewe Lucresse,
That for hir wifehode and hir stedfastnesse,
Nat only that these payens hir commende,
But he that y-clepdd is in oure legende
The grete Austyne hath grete compassyoun
Of this Lucresse that starf at Rom^ toun.
And in what wise I wol but shortly trete.
And of this thynge I touch6 but the grete.

Whan Ardea beseg^d was aboute
With Romaynes, that full sternd were and stoute,
Ful longe lay the sege, and lytel wroghte,
So that they were halfe ydel, as hem thoghte.
And in his pley Tarquinius the yonge
Gan for to jape, for he was lyghte of tonge.
And sayd^ that hyt was an ydel lyfe,
No man dide there no mord than his wife.
" And lat us speke of wivds that is best ;
Preise every man his own6, as him lest,
And with oure spech6 let us ease oure herte."

A knyght, that highte Colatyne, up sterte.
And saydd thus : " Nay, for hit is no nede
To trowen on the worde, but on the dede.
I have a wife," quod he, " that as I trowe
Is holden good of al that ever hir knowe.
Go we to Rome, to nyght, and we shul se."
Tarquinius answerde, "That lyketh me."

INTRODUCTION Ixi

To Rom6 be they come, and faste hem dighte
To Colatyn^s house, and doun they lyghte,
Tarquinius, and eke this Colatyne.
The housbonde knewe the estres wel and fyne,
And ful preyely into the house they goon,
For at the gat^ porter was ther noon:
And at the chambre dor6 they abyde.
This noble wyfe sat by hir beddys syde
Disshevele, for no malice she ne thoghte,
And softd wolle saith our boke that she wroghte,
To kepen hir fro slouthe and ydilnesse;
And bad hir servauntes doon hir besynesse;
And axeth hem, "What tydynges heren ye?
How sayne men of the sege ? how shal it be ?
God wolde the wallas weren falle adoun !
Myn housbonde is to longe out of this toun,
For which the dredd doth me so to smerte;
Ryght as a swerde hyt styngeth to myn herte.
Whan I thenke on the sege, or of that place.
God save my lorde, I pray him for his grace ! "

And therwith'al ful tendirly she wepe,
And of hir werke she toke no mord kepe,
But mek^ly she let hir eyen falle.
And thilkd semblarit sat hir wel withalle.
And eke the teer^s ful of honeste
Embelyssh^d hire wifely chastitee.
Hire countenance is to her hert6 digne,
For they accordeden in dede and signe.
And with that worde hir husbonde Colatyne,
Or she of him was ware, come stertyng ynne.
And say^de, " Drede the noght, for I am here ! "
And she anon up roos, with blysful chere.
And kyssed hym, as of wyvds is the wone.

Tarquinius, this prowdd kyngds sone,
Conceyv^d hath hir beaute and hir chere,
Hir yelow heer, hir shap, and hire manere,
Hir hewe, hir wordds that she hath compleyned,
And by no craft hire beaute was not feyned ;
And kaughtd to this lady suche desire.
That in his hert^ brent as any fire
So wodely that his wittd was forgeten.
For wel thoghte he she shuld^ nat be geten.
And ay the more that he was in dispaire.
The more he covetyth, and thoght hir faire;
His blynd^ lust was al his covetynge.

On morwe, whan the bryd began to synge,

Ixii INTRODUCTION

Unto the sege he cometh ful pryvely,

And by himselfe he walketh sobrely,

The ymage of hir recordyng alwey newe:

"Thus lay hir heer, and thus fressh was hir hewe;

Thus sate, thus spake, thus spanne, this was hir chere:

Thus faire she was, and thys was hir manere."

Al this conceyte his herte hath new y-take,

And as the see, with tempeste al to-shake,

That after, whan the storm is al ago,

Yet wol the watir quappe a day or two,

Ryght so, thogh that hir formd were absent,

The plesaunce of hir form^ was present.

But nath^les, nat plesaunce, but delyte.
Or an unryghtful talent with dispite, —
" For maugree hir, she shal my lemman be :
Happe helpeth hardy man alway," quod he,
"What end^ that I make, hit shal be so!"
And gyrt him with his swerde, and gan to go.
And forth he rid til he to Rome is come,
And al alone his way there hath he nome
Unto the hous of Colatyne ful ryght.

Doun was the sonne, and day hath lost his lyght
And inne he come, unto a prevy halke,
And in the nyght ful thefely gan he stalke.
Whan every wyght was to his reste broght,
Ne no wyghte had of tresoun suche a thoght.
Whether by wyndow, or by other gynne,
With swerde y-drawe, shortly he cometh ynne
There as she lay, thys noble wyfe Lucresse,
And as she woke hir bed she feltd presse.
" What best is that," quod she, " that weyeth thus ? "
" I am the kyng^s sone, Tarquinius,"
Quod he, "but and thow crye, or noyse make,
Or if thou any creature awake.
Be thilk^ God that formede man on lyve.
This swerd thurghout thyn hert6 shal I ryve."
And therwithal unto hir throte he sterte.
And sette the swerde al sharpe unto hir herte.

No word she spake, she hath no myght therto;
What shal she sayne ? hir witte is al ago !
Ryght as a wolfe that fynt a lomb alone,
To whom shal she compleyne or makd mone?
What ! shal she fyghte with an hardy knyghte ?
Wei wot^ men a woman hath no myghte.
What ! shal she crye, or how shal she asterte
That hath hir by the throte, with swerde at herte?

INTRODUCTION Ixiii

She axeth grace, and seyde al that she kan.
"Ne wolt thou nat?" quod tho this cruelle man,
"As wisly Jupiter my soul^ save,
As I shal in the stable slay thy knave,
And lay him in thy bed, and lowd^ crye.
That I the fynde in suche avowtrye;
And thus thou shalt be ded, and also lese
Thy nam^, for thou shalt non othir chese."

Thise Romaynes wyf^s loveden so hir nam^
At thilkd tyme, and dredde so the shame,
That, what for fere of sklaundre, and drede of dethe,
She lost attones bothd wytte and brethe;
And in a swowgh she lay, and woxe so ded,

Men myghten smyten of hir arme or hed.

She feleth nothinge, neither foule ne feyre.
Tarquinius, thou art a kyng^s eyre,

And sholdest, as by lynage and by ryght,

Doon as a lorde and as a verray knyght;

Why hastow doon dispite to chevalrye?

Why hastow doon thys lady vylanye?

Alias, of the thys was a vilenous dede !

But now to the purpose ; in the story I rede

Whan he was goon and this myschaunce is falle,

Thys lady sent aftir hir frend^s alle.

Fader, moder, housbonde, all, y-fere.

And al dysshevelee with hir heerd clere,

In habyte suche as wymmen usede tho

Unto the buryinge of hir frendds go

She sytte in hall^ with a sorowful syghte.

Hir frendes axen what hir aylen myghte,

And who was dede, and she sytte aye wepynge.

A worde for shame ne may she forthe out brynge,

Ne upon hem she durste nat beholde.

But att^ laste of Tarquyny she hem tolde

This rewful case, and al thys thing horr;^ble
The wo to telle hyt were an impossible

That she and al hir frendes made attones.

Al hadd^ folk^s hertys ben of stones,

Hyt myght have makdd hem upon hir rewe,

Hire hertd was so wyfely and so trewe,

She sayde that for hir gylt, ne for hir blame,

Hir housbonde shulde nat have the foul^ name.

That nold^ she naf suifren by no wey.

And they answerd^ alle upon hir fey.

That they foryaf hyt hyr, for hyt was ryght ;

Hyt was no gilt ; hit lay not in hir myght,

Ixiv INTRODUCTION

And seyden hire ensamples many oon.
But al for noght, for thus she seyde anoon :
" Be as be may," quod she, " of foryifynge ;
I wol not have no foryift for nothinge."
But pryvely she kaught6 forth a knyfe.
And therwithal she rafte hir-selfe hir lyfe;
And as she felle adoun she kaste hire loke,
And of hir clothes yet she hede toke;
For in hir fallynge yet she hadd^ care,
Lest that hir fete or such^ thynge lay bare.
So wel she lov^de clennesse, and eke trouthe !

Of hir had al the toun of Rom^ routhe.
And Brutus by hir chaste bloode hath swore,
That Tarquyn shulde y-banysshed be therfore,
And al his kynne; and let the peple calle,
And openly the tale he told hem alle;
And openly let cary her on a bere
Through al the toun, that men may see and here
The horrybl^ dede of hir oppressioun.
Ne never was ther kynge in Romd toun
Syn thilke day; and she was holden there
A seynt, and ever hir day y-halwdd dere,
As in hire lawe. And thus endeth Lucresse
The noble wyfe, as Titus beryth wittnesse.

I telle hyt, for she was of love so trewe,
Ne in hir wille she chaungede for no newe;
And for the stable hert^, sadde and kynde,
That in these wymmen men may al day fynde;
Ther as they kaste hire hert^, there it dwelleth.
For wel I wot that Criste himself^ telleth.
That in Israel, as wyde as is the londe,
Nat so grete feythe in al that londe he fonde,
As in a woman; and this is no lye.
And as for men, loketh which tirannye
They doon al day, — assay them whoso lyste.
The trewest is ful brotil for to triste.

Painter's Palace of Pleasure (ed. Jacobs, 1890), vol. i. pp. 22-25

The Second Novell

Sextus Tarquinius ravished Lucrece. And she bewayling
the losse of her chastitte, killed her selfe

Great preparation was made by the Romaines, against a
people called Rutuli, who had a citie named Ardea, excelling
in wealth and riches which was the cause that the Romaine

INTRODUCTION Ixv

king, being exhausted and quite voyde of money, by reason
of his sumptuous buildinges, made warres uppon that countrie.
In the time of the siege of that citie the yonge Romaine
gentlemen banqueted one another, amonges whom there was
one called Collatinus Tarquinius, the sonne of Egerius. And
by chaunce they entred in communication of their wives,
every one praysing his several spouse. At length the talke
began to grow hot, wherupon Collatinus said that words
were vaine. For within few houres it might be tried, how
much his wife Lucretia did excel the rest, wherefore (quoth
he) if there be any livelihod in you, let us take our horse, to
prove which of our wives doth surmount.

Wheruppon they roode to Rome in post. At their
comming they found the kinges doughters, sportinge them-
selves with sondrye pastimes : From thence they went to the
house of Collatinus, where they founde Lucrece, not as the
other before named, spending time in idlenes, but late in
the night occupied and busie amonges her maydes in the
middes of her house spinning of woll. The victory and prayse
wherof was given to Lucretia, who when she saw her hus-
band, gentlie and lovinglie intertained him, and curteouslye
badde the Tarquinians welcome. Immediately Sextus
Tarquinius the sonne of Tarquinius Superbus, (that time
the Romaine king) was incensed wyth a libidinous desire,
to construpate and defloure Lucrece. When the yonge
gentlemen had bestowed that night pleasantly with their
wives, they retourned to the Campe. Not long after
Sextus Tarquinius with one man retourned to Collatia un-
knowen to Collatinus, and ignorant to Lucrece and the rest
of her houshold, for what purpose he came. Who being well
intertayned, after supper was conveighed to his chamber.
Tarquinius burninge with the love of Lucrece, after he per-
ceived the houshold to be at reste, and all thinges in quiet,
with his naked sworde in his hande, wente to Lucrece being
a sleepe, and keeping her downe with his lefte hande, saide :
"Hold thy peace Lucrece, I am Sextus Tarquinius, my
sworde is in my hand, if thou crie, I will kill thee." The
gentlewoman sore afrayed, being newely awaked oute of her
sleepe, and seeing iminent death, could not tell what to do.
Then Tarquinius confessed his love, and began to intreate
her, and therewithall used sundry minacing wordes, by all
meanes attempting to make her quiet: when he saw her
obstinate, and that she would not yelde to his request, not-
withstanding his cruell threates, he added shameful and
villanous speach, saying : That he would kill her, and when
she was slaine, he woulde also kill his slave, and place him

Ixvi INTRODUCTION

by her, that it might be reported howe she was slaine being
taken in adulterie. She vanquished with his terrible and
infamous threate, his fleshlye and licentious enterprice over-
came the puritie of her chaste and honest hart, which done
he departed. Then Lucrece sent a post to Rome to her
father, and an other to Ardea to her husbande, requiringe
them that they would make speede to come unto her, with
certaine of their trustie frendes, for that a cruell facte was
chaunced. Then Sp. Lucretius with P. Valerius the sonne
of Volesius, made hast to Lucrece: where they founde her
sitting, very pensive and sadde in her chamber. So sone as
she saw them she began pitiously to weepe. Then her
husband asked her whether all thinges were well, unto whom
she sayde these wordes.

" No dere husbande, for what can be well or safe unto a
woman, when she hath lost her chastitie? Alas Collatine,
the steppes of an other man, be now fixed in thy bed. But
it is my bodye onely that is violated, my minde God knoweth
is giltles, whereof my death shalbe witnesse. But if you be
men give me your handes and trouth, that the adulterer may
not escape unrevenged. It is Sextus Tarquinius whoe being
an enemie, in steede of a frende, the other night came unto
mee, armed with his sword in his hand, and by violence
caried away from me (the Goddes know) a woful joy."

Then every one of them gave her their faith, and comforted
the pensive and languishing lady, imputing the offence to the
authour and doer of the same, affirming that her bodye was
polluted, and not her minde, and where consent was not,
there the crime was absente. Whereunto shee added : " I
praye you consider with your selves, what punishment is due
for the malefactour. As for my part, though I cleare my
selfe of the offence, my body shall feele the punishment : for
no unchast or ill woman, shall hereafter impute no dishonest
act to Lucrece." Then she drewe out a knife, which she had
hidden secretely, under her kirtle, and stabbed her selfe to
the harte. Which done, she fell downe grovelinge uppoq her
wound and died. Whereupon her father and husband made
great lamentation, and as they were bewayling the death of
Lucrece, Brutus plucked the knife oute of the wound, which
gushed out with aboundance of bloude, and holding it up
said : " I sweare by the chast bloud of this body here dead,
and I take you the immortall Gods to witnes, that I will
drive and extirpate oute of this Citie, both L. Tarquinius
Superbus, and his wicked wife, with all the race of his
children and progenie, so that none of' them, ne yet any
others shall raigne anye longer in Rome." Then he delivered

INTRODUCTION Ixvii

the knife to Collatinus, Lucretius and Valerius, who marveyled
at the strangenesse of his words : and from whence he should
conceive that determination. They all swore that othe. And
followed Brutus, as their captaine, in his conceived purpose.
The body of Lucrece was brought into the market place,
where the people wondred at the vilenesse of that facte,
every man complayning uppon the mischiefe of that faci-
norous rape, committed by Tarquinius. Whereupon Brutus
perswaded the Romaynes, that they should cease from teares
and other childishe lamentacions, and to take weapons in
their handes, to shew themselves like men.

Then the lustiest and most desperate persons within the
citie, made themselves prest and readie, to attempte any
enterprise : and after a garrison was placed and bestowed at
Collatia, diligent watche and ward was kept at the gates of
the Citie, to the intent that the kinge should have no
advertisement of that sturre. The rest of the souldiours
followed Brutus to Rome.

When he was come thither, the armed multitude did beate
a marvellous feare throughout the whole Citie: but yet
because they sawe the chiefeste personages goe before, they
thought that the same enterprise was [not] taken in vaine.
Wherefore the people out of all places of the citie ranne into
the market place. Where Brutus complained of the abhomin-
able Rape of Lucrece, committed by Sextus Tarquinius.
And thereunto he added the pride and insolent behaviour of
the king, the miserie and drudgerie of the people, and howe
they, which in time paste were victours and Conquerours,
were made of men of warre. Artificers, and Labourers. He
remembred also the infamous murder of Servius Tullius
their late kinge. These and such like he called to the
peoples remembraunce, whereby they abrogated and deposed
Tarquinius, banishing him, his wife, and children. Then he
levied an army of chosen and piked men, and marched to
the Campe at Ardea, committing the governemente of the
Citie to Lucretius, who before was by the king appointed
Lieutenant. Tullia in the time of this hurlie burlie, fledde
from her house, all the people cursing and crying vengeaunce
upon her. Newes brought into the campe of these eventes,
the king with great feare retourned to Rome, to represse
those tumultes, and Brutus hearinge of his approche, marched
another waye, because hee woulde not meete him. When
Tarquinius was come to Rome, the gates were shutte against
him, and he himselfe commaunded to avoide into exile. The
campe received Brutus with great joye and triumphe, for
that he had delivered the citie of such a tyraunte. Then

Ixviii INTRODUCTION

Tarquinius with his children fledde to Caere, a Citie of the
Hetrurians. And as Sextus Tarquinius was going, he was
slaine by those that premeditated revengemente, of old
murder and injuries by him done to their predecessours.
This L. Tarquinius Superbus raigned xxv yeares. The
raigne of the kinges from the first foundation of the citie
continued CCxliiii. yeares. After which governmente two
Consuls were appointed, for the order and administration
of the Citie. And for that yeare L. Junius Brutus, and
L. Tarquinius Collatinus.

IIN J.XX»^JLy»j«^jLxvJN Ixix

III

THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM

The Passionate Pilgrim was not entered in the Sationers'
Register. It was published in 1599 with this title-page:

The I Passionate | Pilgrime. | By W. Shakespeare.
[Device] At London | Printed for W. Jaggard, and are
to be sold by W. Leake, at the Grey- | hound in Paules
Churchyard. | 1599.

A second title-page precedes the verses, " It was a Lording's
daughter," viz.,

Sonnets To sundry notes of Musicke. [ [Device] At
London Printed for W. Jaggard, and are | to be sold by
W. Leake, at the Grey- | hound in Paules Churchyard |
1599.

The text is printed only on the right side of the page, to
the end of XX. 1 2, but on both sides from " A belt of straw
and ivy buds " onward. There are said to have been three
editions, but of the second no copy exists, and the date is
unknown. There are two copies extant of the first and two
of the third, that of 161 2. The volume is a small 8vo, though
sometimes for convenience cited as Q i.

The issue of a second edition of unknown date is inferred
from the title-page of that of 161 2 :

The I Passionate \ Pilgrime \ or | Certaine Amorous
Sonnets \ betweene Venus and Adonis | newly corrected
andaug- \ mented \ By W. Shakespere \ The third Edition.
I Whereunto is newly ad | ded two Love-Epistles, the
first I from Paris to Hellen, and Hellens answere backe
I againe to Paris \ Printed for W. Jaggard, | 161 2. |

In 1640 appeared:

Poems \ written | by | Wil. Shake-speare | Gent. [Device]
Printed at London by Tho. Cotes, and are | to be sold
by John Benson, dwelling in | St. Dunstans Church-yard.

This volume was reproduced in 1885 by Alfred Russel
Smith. It contains Shakespeare's Sonnets in a new order,
singly or in twos or threes, and scattered among them the
poems of the 161 2 edition of The Passionate Pilgrim with
certain others.

Ixx INTRODUCTION

Two of these, viz. " Take O take those lips away," from
Measure for Measure, with the additional stanza found in
Fletcher's Bloody Brother, V. ii., and the Phoenix and the
Turtle, from the appendix to Chester's Love's Martyr, were
inserted by Malone in his edition of 1780, when he left out
the first two sonnets, giving, however, the first in a note on
Sonnet cxxxviii. With the alliterative title, Professor
Dowden, in his Introduction to Griggs's Facsimile, compares
the titles of previous collections, "Paradyse of Daynty
Devises," " Arbour of Amorous Devises," " Gorgeous Gallery
of Gallant Inventions," and cites in explanation of its mean-
ing, "Pilgrim-lover or Palmer-lover," the description of a
passionate pilgrim in Greene's Never Too Late, 1590 (Grosart,
viii. 14, IS):

"Downe the valley gan he tracke,
Bagge and bottle at his backe,
In a surcoate all of gray,
Such weare Palmers on the way, . . .
Such a Palmer nere was scene,
Lesse love himselfe had Palmer been.
Yet for all he was so quaint
Sorrow did his visage taint. . . .
And yet his feare by his sight,
Ended in a strange delight.
That his passions did approve,
Weedes and sorrow were for love."

The edition of 1599 contains twenty poems, now usually
printed as twenty-one by giving an independent existence to
the last three stanzas of XIV. As regards the contents of the
volume, the differences of quality, uncertainties of text, and
doubts as to authorship may be explained by the circum-
stances of the time. There were no public recitations, as in
ancient Rome ; no journals or newspapers, as now, with casual
wards for the accommodation of vagrant rimes. The only
outlet for an Elizabethan writer, short of actual publication,
was by way of leakage and percolation through his immediate
circle. The gift or loan of a MS., permission or encourage-
ment to copy, were a poet's arms against oblivion. This led
to the making of collections — scrap-book fashion — which
sometimes found their way into the hands of piratical
publishers. Even literary gleaners were employed to collect
materials, and printed books rifled. Authors had no copy-
right ; they might, if so disposed, make a Star-chamber matter
of their wrongs, but mere protests seem to have had little effect.

INTRODUCTION Ixxi

Two examples of such protests must suffice. I take the first
from Grosart's Memorial-Introduction to Nicholas Breton's
works (vol. i. xxv a) in the Chertsey Worthies' Library :

" In an epistle ' To the Gentlemen studients and Scholers
of Oxforde,' dated 12th April 1592, in the 'Pilgrimage' [to
Paradise], is this notice : — ' Gentlemen there hath beene of
late printed in London by one Richarde loanes, a printer, a
booke of english verses, entituled Bretons bower of delights :
I protest it was donne altogether without my consent or
knowledge, and many things of other mens mingled with a
few of mine, for except Amoris Lachrimae : an epitaph upon
Sir Phillip Sydney, and one or two other toies, which I know
not how he unhappily came by, I have no part of any of
the[m] : and so I beseech yee assuredly beleeve."

The second is quoted by Professor Dowden in his Intro-
duction to The Passionate Pilgrim, and given here with his
explanations in parentheses, Heywood is complaining (in
a postscript to his Apologie for Actors, 1612) of the insertion
of two of his poems without his authority in the edition
of 1612:

" Here likewise I must necessarily insert a manifest injury
done to me in that worke \i.e. " my booke of Britaines Troy "]
by taking the two Epistles of Paris to Helen, and Helen to
Paris, and printing them in a lesse volume, under the name
of another \i.e. the name of Shakspere], which may put the
world in an opinion I might steale them from him, and hee
to doe himselfe right, hath since published them in his owne
name : [Heywood means, that the world might think that in
The Passionate Pilgrim of 161 2, Shakspere was reclaiming
property stolen from him by Heywood in his Britaines Troy]
but as I must acknowledge my lines not worthy his patronage
\i.e. Shakspere's patronage] under whom he [i.e. Jaggard]
hath published them, so the Author \i.e. Shakspere] I know
much offended with M. Jaggard that (altogether unknowne to
him) presumed to make so bold with his name."

It may have been in consequence of this protest that
Jaggard cancelled the offending title-page and replaced it
by a new one omitting Shakespeare's name. Both title-pages
were by mistake inserted in Malone's copy.

It should be added that in Shakespeare Folios and Quartos,
by Alfred W. Pollard (1909), it is shown that authors were
not quite so helpless as has been generally supposed.

The following remarks on the authorship of the poems
contained in The Passionate Pilgrim are to a great extent
taken from Professor Dowden's Introduction to Griggs's
Facsimile already mentioned.

Ixxii INTRODUCTION

I. Probably an earlier form of Sonnet cxxxviii. It is less
coherent, and, as Professor Dowden has shown, line 4, " Un-
skilful in the world's false forgeries," is ambiguous : it might
mean " unable to deceive," whereas the sense needed is " easy
to deceive," and this is given by " Unlearned in the world's
false subtleties." We do not know when the poem was
written. If it was one of Shakespeare's "sugred Sonnets
among his private friends," it cannot have been later than
1 598 ; but the word " sonnet " was of somewhat indeter-
minate meaning, as may be seen from its use on the second
title-page of The Passionate Pilgrim, and from a remark
of Gascoigne's in his Certain Notes of Instruction : " Some
think that all Poemes (being short) may be called Sonets."
On the other hand, line 6, "Although I know my years
be past the best," does not necessarily exclude a com-
paratively early date ; for Shakespeare may have thought
with Herrick that " That age is best which is the first. When
youth and blood are warmer."

II. This is Sonnet cxliv., with a few different readings.
Its publication here shows, says Professor Dowden, that by
the year 1599 the crisis in the history of Shakespeare's friend-
ship with the unknown " Will " had already occurred. If" fair,"
line 8, and "to me," line 11, are not merely errors of tran-
scription, the form in the Sonnets is probably later ; for " foul
pride" is a better contrast to "his purity," and is both in
keeping with " colour'd ill," line 4, and more applicable to " the
Dark Lady," see Sonnet cxxvii., "In the old age black was
not counted fair"; and "both from me," i.e. far from me,
contrasts with " both to each friend," and explains " I guess "
in the next line.

III. Longaville's sonnet to Maria in Love's Labour's
Lost, IV. iii. 58-71. It loses by being withdrawn from its
context, for the words " Vows for thee broke " refer to the
oath sworn by Navarre's courtiers to spend three years in
monastical study.

IV. The treatment of the question of Shakespeare's author-
ship of IV., VI., IX. has ranged from confident acceptance
to stern rejection. Malone found in the title-page of ed. 161 2
confirmation of his theory that " several of the sonnets
in this collection seem to have been essays of the authour
when he first conceived the notion of writing a poem on the
subject of Venus and Adonis, and before the scheme of his
work was completely adjusted. Many of these little pieces

INTRODUCTION Ixxiii

bear the strongest mark of the hand of Shakespeare." Pro-
fessor Dowden writes : " I think there can be little doubt that
IV., VI., and (I add more doubtfully) IX. come from the
same hand. Nothing in any one of the three sonnets forbids
the idea of Shakspere's authorship ; rather, it seems to me
they have a Shaksperian air about them. At the same time
there is nothing which conclusively proves them to be by
Shakspere " ; and Mr. Sidney Lee : " The poetic temper and
phraseology of Jaggard's four poems about Venus and Adonis
[IV., VI., IX., XI.] sufficiently refute the pretensions to Shake-
sperian authorship which Jaggard, with Leake's connivance,
made in their behalf All of them embody reminiscences of
Shakespeare's narrative poem, but none show any trace of
his workmanship." If Bartholemew Griffin, who wrote XI.,
wrote also IV., VI., and IX., and he was certainly capable of
writing the last, he may have been unwilling to own them on
other than literary grounds. But, as Professor Dowden points
out, " we have some slight ground for the assumption " that
Shakespeare wrote IV. and VI. in the resemblance between
these sonnets and a passage in The Taming of the Shrew
(Induction, ii. 51-53) as he revised it:

" Dost thou love pictures ? we will fetch thee straight
Adonis painted hy a running brook.
And Cytherea all in sedges hid."

The brook and the name " Cytherea " are common to
IV., VI., and the passage above, but do not occur in IX., or
XI., or the unrevised play, The Taming of a Shrew. On the
other hand, " the brakes " and the " queen of love " are found
both in IX. and in Venus and Adonis. The fact noticed by
Mr. Sidney Lee that " the episode of Adonis bathing, with
which the second of these sonnets [viz. VI.] deals, is un-
noticed in Shakespeare's poem," is sufficiently accounted
for by the ostentatious presence of Venus: in the picture,
she was hid in sedges, and in the sonnet, revealed too late.
There is perhaps also a little exaggeration in saying that
"the boyish modesty of Adonis is largely Shakespeare's
original interpretation of the classical fable."

Shakespeare, as Malone has shown, was anticipated by
Greene, in "this conceited ditty" (Grosart, viii. 75) :

" Sweet Adon darst not glaunce thine eye
N'oseres vous, mon bel amy.
Upon thy Venus that must die,

le vous en prie, pitie me
N'oseres vous, mon bel, mon bel,
N'oseres vous, mon bel amy.

Ixxiv INTRODUCTION

See how sad thy Venus lies, . . .
Love in heart and tears in eyes, . . .
All thy beauties sting my heart, . . .
I must die through Cupids dart,
Wilt thou let thy Venus die, . . .
Aden were unkinde say I " . . .

and practically by Marlowe, who imputes indifference if not
modesty {Hero and Leander, 11. 1 1-14) :

" Her wide sleeves green, and border'd with a grove,
Where Venus in her naked glory strove
To please the careless and disdainful eyes
Of proud Adonis, that before her lies."

V. Biron's sonnet, in alexandrines, to Rosaline, in
Love's Labour's Lost, iv.ii. 108-122. Theplay was published,
"newly corrected and augmented by W. Shakespeare," in
1598. In the same year the name occurs in Meres's list,
and in Tofte's poem, Alba, or the Month's Mind of a MelancJwly
Lover : " Love's L^abour Lost I once did see a play Y-cleped
so," etc. Tofte's reference may be to an earlier version, and
our sonnet may have been jotted down by some one in the
audience. This would account for the minor differences in
the text, and even for the corruption in line 13, an evident
blunder.

VI. See IV.a«?^. Malone gives Vincent Bourne's transla-
tion into Latin Elegiacs, which omits lines 11, 1 2, in favour
of a neat reference in the last couplet to Venus as sea-born.
Professor Dowden says : " If IV., VI., and IX. belong to one
and the same group of sonnets, the order, it seems, must
be — VI. Noon of the first day ; Cytherea waiting beside the
brook for the arrival of Adonis ; and the escape of Adonis
by plunging into the water. IV. Cytherea caressing Adonis
beside the brook. IX. The following morning, Cytherea
meeting Adonis as he goes to the boar-hunt. Thus the
treatment of time corresponds precisely with that of Venus
and Adonis, which includes two days, from noon of the
first day until the death of Adonis on the following
morning."

On the supposition that we have a first sketch of the
poem in a sonnet-sequence, I would suggest that the
incident of the bathing, afterwards rejected, took place
before the opening of the poem and, a fortiori, before noon;
for Venus and Adonis began their conversation in the
shade, and the mid-day heat came later; see lines 176-178.

INTRODUCTION Ixxv

For a suggestion that the sonnets, the passage in The
Taming of the Shrew, and even the poem, may have a
common origin in Faerie Queene, III. i. 34-38, where are
the allurements and warnings of Venus, the bathing, the
boar-hunt, and the death and metamorphosis of Adonis, see
the close of the Introduction to Venus and Adonis, ante.

VII. Not found elsewhere; author unknown. In the
Introduction to the Leopold Shakspere, p. xxxvi, Furnivall
says: "No. 7 goes so well with No. i, that though I see
nothing distinctively Shakspere's in it, I suppose it may be
his." Professor Dowden's opinion is much the same, " I
dare not venture to say this is not Shakspere's, but I see
nothing characteristically Shaksperian in it " ; and he points
out that the description of the " lily pale with damask die "
can hardly be understood of Shakespeare's dark mistress.

VIII. By Richard Barniield. This and No. XXL, "As
it fell upon a day," had appeared in Poems, in divers
Humors, the last section of a volume published, in 1598, by
William Jaggard's brother John, and containing three other
sections in verse. The Encomion of Lady Pecunia, The
Complaint of Poetrie for the death of Liberalitie, and Con-
science and Covetousness. The volume seems to have been
originally two; the Cambridge Editors state on the authority
of Mr. Henry Bradshaw that the collection of poems which
begins with "The Complaint," though bound with "The
Encomion," has a distinct title and separate signatures. The
sonnet was addressed by Barnfield "To his friend Maister
R. L. in praise of Musique and Poetrie." R. L. has been
identified as Richard Linche, author of Diella, published in
1596, and reprinted by Arber in An English Garner.
Barnfield's praise of Spenser, lines 7, 8, is repeated in his
Remembrance of some English Poets :

"Live Spenser ever, in thy P'airy Queene
Whose like (for deepe Conceit) was never seene";

and he was evidently proud of having written in his Cynthia
(1595) "the first imitation of the verse of that excellent
Poet Maister Spenser in his Fayrie Queene." In the last
line, " One knight loves both," the reference is believed to be
to Sir George Carey, second Baron Hunsdon, who has been
commended for dissuading an attorney from settling in the
Isle of Wight, by causing bells to be fitted to his legs and
a pound of candles to be attached and lighted behind him.
A surer token of his interest in good music is the fact that

Ixxvi INTRODUCTION

Dowland dedicated to him his "first book of Songes and
Ayres" in 1597. Spenser had already (1590) dedicated
Muiopotmos to his wife, Elizabeth, second daughter of
Sir John Spencer of Althorpe. Proof that Barnfield was
the author of VIII. and XXI. is given in the Introductions to
Grosart's edition of his poems (Roxburgh Club, 1876), and
Arber's reprint (English Scholar's Library, 1882).

IX. Author unknown ; found only here. See IV. and VI.
ante.

X. Author unknown ; found only here. Malone sup-
posed it " to have been intended for a dirge to be sung by
Venus on the death of Adonis." Boswell replies : " This note
shows how the clearest head may be led away by a favourite
hypothesis. Unless the poet had completely altered the
whole subject of his poem on Venus and Adonis, which is
principally occupied by the entreaties of the goddess to the
insensible swain, how could she be represented as saying, ' I
craved nothing of thee still.' The greater part of it is em-
ployed in describing her craving." Professor Dowden agrees
with Boswell : " The image of the falling plum occurs in
another connexion in Venus and Adonis, 1. 527. I am not
disposed to accept Malone's suggestion. The hunter-boy,
Adonis, had no ' discontent ' to leave. Testamentary language
appears several times in Shakspere, according to our
notions, curiously out of place, but few expressions could be
odder than the words of this poem if addressed by Venus to
Adonis :

' I weep for thee, and yet no cause I have ;
For why? Thou left'st me nothing in thy will.'

The intrusion of the cynical touch that none but legatees
should weep, though introduced only to be effaced, comes ill
from Venus. I think the lines read with most point if we
regard them as an elegy for a melancholy youth or maiden
lately dead. And it seems quite possible that they may have
been written by Shakspere."

XI. By Bartholemew Griffin, the third poem in Fidessa,
more chaste than kind, a collection of sixty-two sonnets (1596).
To Grosart's arguments in favour of Griffin's authorship,
viz. his own claim in the second dedication, " it is the first-
fruit of any my writing," its priority to The Passionate Pilgrim,
and the fact that the latter contains poems not by Shake-

INTRODUCTION ixxYii

speare, Professor Dowden adds the character of the double
rimes, in which the last syllable is a pronoun, a manner of
riming rare in Shakespeare, but common in Fidessa, and the
fact that the closing couplet shows that the sonnet does not
really belong to a Venus and Adonis series, but to one of
those sonnet-sequences, common at the time, which deplore
the coldness of a mistress. Again, Fidessa has a better text
in line i, where a beat is missing in The Passionate Pilgrim.
In lines i,, J, Fidessa has "wanton . . . warlike " where The
Passionate Pilgrim has " warlike " twice. Here I find it hard
to decide. The variety may argue facility, but if " warlike "
is a conventional epithet, and " the warlike god " a kenning for
Mars, it would naturally be repeated. If otherwise, a more
appropriate epithet might easily have been found for line 7.
On the new lines, 9-12, Furnivall notes "whence got, is un-
known." Grosart suggested that they were a closer copy of
Venus and Adonis, " to be explained by Jaggard's wish to pass
off his Miscellany as by Shakespeare"; and Professor Dowden
writes : " I can believe that both versions are due to Griiifin
(Jaggard's text being derived, perhaps, from a manuscript
source, and not from the printed Fidessa), and that this is a
case of hesitation between two treatments of a sonnet-close,
the writer being doubtful whether the turn in the thought
should take place at the ninth or at the eleventh line."

Halliwell-Phillipps (quoted by Professor Dowden) mentions
that this sonnet "occurs with No. IV. in a manuscript, written
about the year 1625, preserved in Warwick Castle; the latter
poem being there given as the Second Part of the one in
Fidessa." This seems an anticipation of Malone's hypo-
thesis.

XII. Possibly by Thomas Deloney. Malone noted its
occurrence in his Garland of Good Will, Part III., but some
of the poems in Part III. are by other writers. Deloney's
Garland must have been decidedly earlier than The Pas-
sionate Pilgrim, for Nashe has a reference to it in Have With
You to Saffron-Walden (published 1596): "even as Thomas
Deloney, the Balletting Silke-weaver, hath rime inough for
all myracles, & wit to make a Garland of good will more
than the premisses," etc. (Wks., ed. M'Kerrow, iii. 84).
This might seem conclusive, but as there is no copy of the
Garland in existence of earlier date than 1604, probably
four years after Deloney's death, it is quite possible that our
No. XII. appeared in it then for the first time. On the other
hand, the poem in the 1604 edition was much longer, and
there is nothing to prevent our supposing that the shorter

Ixxviii INTRODUCTION

version, that of The Passionate Pilgrim, was printed by
Deloney in his first edition.

The present version was given by Percy in his Reliques.
He attributed the additional four stanzas in the Garland of
Good Will to " a meaner pen." " Youth and Age," he writes,
"is found in the little collection of Shakespeare's Sonnets,
intitled The Passionate Pilgrim, the greatest part of which
seems to relate to the amours of Venus and Adonis, being
little effusions of fancy, probably written while he was com-
posing his larger Poem on that subject. [This is Malone's
theory.] The following \i.e. " Crabbed age and youth," etc.]
seems intended for the mouth of Venus, weighing the com-
parative merits of youthful Adonis and aged Vulcan."
Steevens took some pains to refute Percy's hypothesis, insist-
ing on Vulcan's vigour as proved by his daily toil, " he who
could forge the thunderbolts of Jove, was surely in full
strength."

The poem was very popular. Malone cites a reference to
it in Fletcher's Woman's Prize, IV. i. :

"Thou fond man.
Hast thou forgot the ballad, ' Crabbed Age ' ?
Can May and January match together,
And never a storm between 'em ? "

As to its authorship, Furnivall writes : " No. XH. I like to
think Shakspere's " ; H alii well - Phillipps : " Few persons
would dream of assigning it to the pen of Shakespeare " ; and
commenting on the latter. Professor Dowden : " I confess my
feeling is less decided than this : there is nothing either to
prove or disprove Shakspere's authorship, but if any one
choose to side strongly with Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, I have
nothing to reply."

Xni. Author unknown; found only here. On line 8,
Malone writes : " A copy of this poem said to be printed from
an ancient MS. and published in the Gentleman' s Magazine,
vol. xxix. p. 39, reads :

' As faded gloss no rubbing will excite,'

and in the corresponding line :

' As broken glass no cement can unite.' "

" This," says Mr. Sidney Lee, " was reprinted with what
professed to be greater accuracy in the same periodical ten
years later (vol. xxx. p. 39). The variations are not im-

INTRODUCTION Ixxix

portant, and have a too pronouncedly eighteenth-century
flavour to establish their pretension to greater antiquity. In
line 7, where Jaggard reads : —

' And as goods lost, are seld or never found '

the Gentleman's Magazine reads : —

'As goods when lost are wond'rous seldom found.'

. . . There can be little question that search must be made
elsewhere for any contemporary illustration of Jaggard's
miscellany."

Of the poems in six-lined stanzas, VII., X., XIII., XIV.,
XV., XIX., Mr. Sidney Lee writes, " It is very possible that
they are from Barnfield's pen."

XIV., XV. Author unknown ; found only here. The
whole five stanzas, as Professor Dowden has shown, form a
single piece. They are printed as one in the 1599 edition
and also in the edition of the Poems of 1640. The subject
throughout is a lover's night of waiting for the morning when
he is to meet his beloved. In stanza i,

"'Farewell,' quoth she, 'and come again to-morrow,'"

is recalled in stanza 4,

"For why, she sigh'd, and bade me come to-morrow."

An alexandrine, indeed, occurs before the last line of stanzas
3 and 4, but this distinguishes them from stanza 5 as much
as from i and 2. Professor Dowden suggests that the catch-
word " Lord " after the second stanza in the edition of 1 599
may be explained by a new sheet beginning on the next
page, and it may be noticed that there is no catchword
where a new sheet begins, as elsewhere in the volume, with
a new poem. In support of my conjecture on 1. 14, "My
heart doth charge them \i.e. mine eyes] watch the morning
rise," I may cite here Venus and Adonis, 583, 584:

" this night I '11 waste in sorrow.
For my sick heart commands mine eyes to watch."

XVI. Author unknown ; not found elsewhere. It might

have been written by Greene. Collier inferred from the new

title-page " that all the productions inserted after this division

had been set by popular composers." So too Malone under-

/

Ixxx INTRODUCTION

stood the expression " Sonnets to sundry notes of Musicke."
He writes : " This and the five following Sonnets are said in
the old copy to have been set to music. Mr. Oldys in one
of his MSS says they were set by John and Thomas
Morley." Steevens, Halliwell-Phillipps, and Professor Dowden
have expressed the opinion that No. XVI. is not by Shake-
speare. For the word " master," line 2, which Sidney Walker
doubtfully interpreted as Master of Arts, Professor Dowden,
explaining it as " teacher or tutor," compares The Taming of
the Shrew, IV. ii. 7 :

" Luc. Now, mistress, profit you in what you read ?
Bian. What, master, read you? first resolve me that.
Luc. I read that I profess, the Art to Love."

XVII. By Shakespeare. It is the ode written by Dumain
to his most divine Kate, Love's Labours Lost, IV. iii. 101-120
(published in quarto 1 598). The two additional lines in the
play,

" Do not call it sin in me.
That I am forsworn for thee,"

are needed that the final " thee " may lead without abrupt-
ness to the " Thou " of the following line :

" Thou for whom Jove would swear," etc.

These two lines are also omitted in England's Helicon (ed.
Bullen, p. 74), where The Passionate Pilgrim version appears
with the title " The Passionate Shepherd's Song," and a cor-
responding change of " lover " to " shepherd " in line 7, and
with " thorn," line 1 2, for " throne," which is read, strangely
enough, both in The Passionate Pilgrim and in the quartos
and folios of Love's Labouf^s Lost. In line 11, "is sworn"
{Love's Labour's Lost), if it may bear the sense " is bound by
my oath," seems a better reading than "hath sworn" {The
Passionate Pilgrim and England's Helicon). In other cases,
the text of the play is decidedly inferior.

XVIII. Author unknown; previously published, as
Malone notes, "with some variations, in a Collection of
Madrigals, by Thomas Weelkes, quarto, 1 597," " this person
being," as Professor Dowden writes, "the composer of the
music, but not necessarily the author of the words." In
England's Helicon (1600) it appeared under the heading, The
unknown Shepherd!s Complaint, and is there signed " Ignoto,"
i.e. Anon. The poem immediately succeeding is Barnfield's

INTRODUCTION Ixxxi

" As it fell upon a day," but is also signed " Ignoto/' and headed
" Another of the same Shepherd's," as if Bodenham knew that
the author was guilty of" My flocks feed not " without knowing
the culprit's name. Professor Dowden assents to Furnivall's
judgment, that it is "clearly not Shakspere's." Malone was
the first to disturb the arrangement of lines in the stanzas.
In the editions of 1599 and 161 2, and in the " Poems" of 1640
(where it is entitled " Loves Labour Lost "), it appears as
three twelve-lined stanzas. Malone, by bisecting lines i, 2,
3, 4, 9, and II, increased the number in each stanza to
eighteen.

XIX. Author unknown. In Halliwell-Phillipps's folio
edition of Shakespeare there is a facsimile of a MS. copy of
the poem supposed to be the same as that formerly in the
possession of Samuel Lysons, from which Malone took some
readings, and in accordance with which he changed the order
of the stanzas by inserting the 5th and 6th between the 2nd
and 3rd, a manifest improvement. It is possible that stanza 8
should follow 6 if " Think," as seems likely, means " believe."
As to the authorship, Furnivall writes : " About No. 19 I
doubt : that ' To sin and never for to saint,' and the whole of
the poem are by some strong man of the Shakspere breed."
Professor Dowden is less inclined now than when he wrote
the Introduction to Griggs's Facsimile to connect it with
Willobie his Avisa. "Willobie his Avisa. or The true
picture of a modest Maid, and of a chast and constant wife.
In Hexamiter verse " \i.e. in the ballad stanza of six lines and
six beats, the metre of No. XIX.], was published anonymously
in 1594, and contains, in the prefatory verses in praise of the
poem, the first printed reference to Shakespeare :

"Though Collatine have deerely bought;
To high renowne, a lasting life.
And found that some in vain have sought.
To have a Faire, and Constant wife.

Yet Tarquyne pluckt his glistering grape.
And Shake-speare, paints poore Lucrece rape."

In the following passage from the introduction to Canto
xliv., the initials W. S. were at one time supposed to stand for
William Shakespeare:

" H. W. [Henry Willobie] being sodenly infected with
the contagion of a fantastical! fit, at the sight of A[ Avisa],
pyneth a while in secret griefe, at length not able any longer
to indure the burning heate of so fervent a humour.

Ixxxii INTRODUCTION

bewrayeth the secresy of his disease unto his familiar frend
W. S. who not long before had tryed the curtesy of the like
passion, and was now newly recovered of the like infection ;
yet finding his frend let bloud in the same vaine, he took
pleasure for a tyme to see him bleed, & in steed of
stopping the issue, he inlargeth the wound, with the sharpe
rasor of a willing conceit, perswading him that he thought it
a matter very easy to be compassed, & no doubt with
payne, diligence & some cost in time to be obtayned.
Thus did this miserable comforter comforting his frend with
an impossibilitie, eyther for that he now would secretly laugh
at his frends folly, that had given occasion not long before
unto others to laugh at his owne, or because he would see
whether an other could play his part better then himselfe, &
in vewing a far off the course of this loving Comedy he
determined to see whether it would sort to a happier end for
this new actor, then it did for the old player," etc. Grosart,
who edited Willobie his Avisa in 1880, suggested that there
are in it recollections of Shakespeare's conversations with his
friend, and that Shakespeare had sent his friend the poem
XIX. in The Passionate Pilgrim.

A stanza in Canto xlv., in which W. S. urges his friend to
give sorrow words, recalls Venus and Adonis, 11. 331-336 :

" A heavy burden wearieth one,
Which being parted then in twaine,
Seemes very light, or rather none.
And boren well with little paine:

The smothered flame, too closely pent,
Burns more extreame for want of vent."

In Canto xlvii., W. S. gives advice similar to that of our
No. XIX., and containing, like it, reminiscences of Ovid : —

" Well, say no more : I know thy griefe.
And face from whence these flames aryse.
It is not hard to fynd reliefe,
If thou wilt follow good advyse.

She is no Saynt, She is no Nonne,
I think in tyme she may be wonne.

Ars veterato- At first repulse you must not faint,
ria Nor flye the field though she deny

You twise or thrise, yet manly bent,
Againe you must, and still reply:

When tyme permits you not to talke.
Then let your pen and fingers walke.

INTRODUCTION Ixxxiii

Munera (ere- Apply her still with dyvers thinges,

da mihi) pla- (For giftes the wysest will deceave)

cant homi- Sometymes with gold, sometymes with

nesque Deos- ringes,

que. No tyme nor fit occasion leave,

Though coy at first she seeme and

wielde,
These toyes in tyme will make her
yielde.

Looke what she likes; that you must love,
And what she hates, you must detest.
Where good or bad, you must approve.
The wordes and workes that please her
best:
If she be godly, you must sweare.
That to offend you stand in feare.

Wicked wiles You must commend her loving face,
to deceave For women joy in beauties praise,
witles wo- You must admire her sober grace,
men. Her wisdom and her vertuous wayes.

Say, 't was her wit & modest shoe.
That made you like and love her so.

You must be secret, constant, free,
Your silent sighes and trickling teares,
Let her in secret often see.
Then wring her hand, as one that feares

To speake, then wish she were your
wife.

And last desire her save your life.

When she doth laugh, you must be glad.
And watch occasions, tyme and place.
When she doth frowne, you must be sad,
Let sighes & sobbes request her grace:
Sweare that your love is truly ment.
So she in tyme must needes relent."

(From Ingleby's Allusion-Books, Ft. I.)

The author of XIX. wrote in the same metre as the
author of Willobie his Avisa, and wrote it better.

Nothing more is known. Hadrian Dorrell, who wrote the
" Epistle Dedicatory " and " Epistle to the Reader " prefixed to
the first edition (1594), professed in an "apologie" (ed. 1605),
to show the true meaning [of Willobie his Avisa]. It may

Ixxxiv INTRODUCTION

be a consolation to remember that his contemporaries were
no clearer-sighted than ourselves. Interesting attempts to
interpret the poem have been made by Mr. Charles Hughes
in his Introduction to his reprint of Willobie his Avisa, and
by Dr. Creighton in his Shakespeare's Story of his Life. Mr.
Hughes can hardly be right in identifying Avisa with a girl
of eighteen, Avys Forward, born at Mere in 1575 ; for Avisa
is represented in the poem as married at the age of twenty,
ten years before the poem opens :

. " Ten yeares have tryde this constant dame,"
" Full twentie yeares she lived a maide." (p. 22)

XX, By Marlowe. It appeared in England's Helicon
(1600) with the title " The Passionate Shepherd to his Love,"
the subscription " Chr. Marlow," and two additional verses :

" A gown made of the finest wool.
Which from our pretty lambs we pull ;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold "

(inserted after the third stanza), and —

" The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning ;
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love."

This stanza ends the poem. In Walton's Compleat Angler
(ed. 2, 1655) it is preceded by another:

" Thy silver dishes for thy meat.
As precious as the gods do eat.
Shall on an ivory table be
Prepared each day for thee and me."

Love's Answer is subscribed "Ignoto" in England's
Helicon, where it has a different title, " The Nymph's Reply
to the Shepherd," and these five additional stanzas :

" Time drives the flocks from field to fold,
When rivers rage, and rocks grow cold;
And Philomel becometh dumb;
The rest complains of cares to come.

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward Winter reckoning yields;
A honey tongue, a breast of gall.
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.

INTRODUCTION Ixxxv

Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies.
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.

Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move,
To come to thee and be thy love.

But could youth last, and love still breed,
Had joy no date, nor age no need.
Then these delights my mind might move,
To live with thee and be thy love."

Here, again, Walton has a penultimate stanza :

"What should we talk of daintees, then,
Of better meat than's fit for men?
These are but vain: that's only good
Which God hath blessed, and sent for food."

In Englands Helicon there follows " Another of the same
nature made since," beginning " Come live with me and be
my dear." It contains eleven stanzas not very much better
than Walton's additions to the original poems ; but Walton's
criticism is better than his poetry, if indeed the additions
are his own work. " It was that smooth song," he writes,
"which was made by Kit Marlow, now at least fifty years
ago ; and the milk-maid's mother sung an answer to it, which
was made by Sir Walter Raleigh, in his younger days. . . .
They were old-fashioned poetry, but choicely good ; I think
much better than the strong lines that are now in fashion in
this critical age."

XXI. By Richard Barnfield. It appeared in his Poems:
In divers Humors (i 598), where it followed A Remembrance of
some English Poets. In England s Helicon it followed The
unknown Shepherds Complaint, " My flocks feed not," and
was entitled Another of the same Shepherd's. The version
there contains only the first twenty-six lines followed by the
couplet —

"Even so poor bird, like thee,
None alive will pity me."

This couplet does not appear in The Passionate Pilgrim,
edd. 1599, 1 61 2, in Barnfield's Poems in Divers Humors, or

Ixxxvi INTRODUCTION

in the edition of 1640. It serves, however, to introduce
without abruptness the lines which follow, though it may-
have been added by the editor of England's Helicon. Pro-
fessor Dowden writes : " Many editors, perhaps influenced by
the fact that 1. 26 comes at the bottom of a page, perhaps
by the fact that in England's Helicon 11. 27-56 do not appear,
and failing, I suppose, to discover any connexion between
the nightingale's lament and the later lines of the piece,
divide the poem into two — the first consisting of 11. 1-26;
the second of 11. 27-56 \i.e. 11. 29-58 in this edition]. But
the reader of Barnfield's poem. The Complaint of Poetrie for
the death of Liberalitie, will remember how Poetrie sorrowing
for Liberality calls on Philomela to cease her complaints :

'Thy woes are light compared unto mine.'

Here the transition from the nightingale to the poor poet
deserted by the faithless flatterers is easy enough for Barn-
field, if not for Barnfield's reader. Lines 1-26 indeed require
27-56 \i.e. 29-58] as a pendant for the nightingale's griefs —

'so lively showne
Made me thinke upon mine owne.'

But if the poem stops at 1. 26 we hear nothing of the
singer's griefs. And we know from the rest of the volume
\Poems in Divers Humors'\ what one of his principal griefs
was — the want of the lovely Lady Pecunia's grace, and the
death of that former friend of poets. Liberality. The editor
of England's Helicon, to compensate for the lines which he
omitted [11. 29-58], added, as I suppose, his brief equivalent
in the couplet [11. 27, 28] which closes the poem as printed
in his Miscellany."

INTRODUCTION Ixxxvii

IV

THE PHCENIX AND TURTLE

This poem first appeared in 1601 without a title and
subscribed William Shake-speare, at the end of a book of
which the title-page is :

Loves Martyr | or | Rosalins Complaint. | Allegorically
shadowing the truth of Loue, \ in the constant Fate of
the Phoenix | and Turtle. \ A Poeme interlaced with
much varietie and raritie; | now first translated out
of the venerable Italian Torquato | Caeliano, by Robert
Chester. | With the true legend of famous King Arthur,
the last of the nine | Worthies, being the first Essay of a
new Brytish Poet : collected | out of diuerse Authenticall
Records. | To these are added some neiv compositions, of
seuerall moderne Writers \ whose names are subscribed to
their seuerall workes, vpon the \ first subject: viz. the
Phoenix and \ Turtle. | Mar: — Mutare dominum non
potest liber notus. \ London | Imprinted forE. B. | i6oi.|

The new compositions have a separate title-page, viz. :

Hereafter | Follow Diverse | Poeticall Essaies on the
former Sub- | iect ; viz : the Turtle and Phoenix. | Done
by the best and chief est of our \ moderne writers, with
their names sub- | scribed to their particular workes : |
neuer before extant. \ And (now first) consecrated by them
all generally, | to the loue and m.erite of the true-noble
Knight}, I Sir John Salisburie. | Dignum laude virum
Musa vetat mori. \ [Device] Anchora Spei. | MDCI.

In spite of the promise of the title-page, some of the
poems are anonymous, the others are by William Shake-
speare, John Marston, George Chapman, and Ben Jonson.
The volume was edited by the late Dr. Grosart, with an
Introduction and notes, for the New Shakspere Society in
1878. It contains interspersed in the allegory of the Phoenix
and Turtle other matters, viz. a description of the Nine
Female Worthies, a chronicle history of King Arthur, a
bestiary, and treatises on birds, on plants and their uses, on
precious stones, etc. The argument is as follows: Dame
Nature at a council of the Roman gods described the beauty
of the Arabian Phoenix, and expressed a fear that she

Ixxxviii INTRODUCTION

would die without offspring. Jove answered that Nature
would find in Paphos Isle "true Honors lovely Squire" who
would meet the Phoenix on a high hill,

"And of their Ashes by my doome shal rise
Another Phcenix her to equalise."

The meeting, postponed while Nature and the Phcenix discuss
English history and mediaeval science (pp. 16-129), took
place by the arrival of a turtle-dove, sorrowing for his turtle
that is dead, and was the signal for Nature's departure. The
Phcenix and the Turtle decided to die together, "in a manner
sacrificingly " and for posterity's sake, and gathered sweet
wood for their pyre. After some striving of courtesies the
Turtle entered the fire first, and was consumed. The Phoenix
followed. A pelican which happened to be present was
permitted to watch and report " their love that she did see."

Dr. Grosart by a process of reasoning known to logicians
as the fallacy of the undistributed middle, concluded that the
allegory shadowed the love of Queen Elizabeth for the Earl
of Essex. Contemporary poets had addressed her as the
Phoenix, and had celebrated her virginity and her beauty.
Essex had been praised as liberal and honourable. Similar
compliments are paid by Chester to his two birds. Again,
Chester's Phoenix is a female, and his turtle-dove a male ;
and Elizabeth was a female, and Essex a male.

Moreover, Paphos Isle is described as holy and serpentless :

" The crocodile and hissing Adders sting
May not come near this holy spot of ground."

It is therefore Ireland, where Essex is known to have
spent some months in 1599; for Ireland was "the Isle of
Saints," and is free from crocodiles, St. Patrick having
banished even small snakes. Elizabeth is so amply allegorised
that she appears not only as the Phcenix, but also as Rosalin
(see p. xxiii), who is Dame Nature ; for, as Grosart says, " the
complaint of Rosalin is put into the mouth of Dame Nature ;
for Dame Nature's Complaint is a complaint in behalf of
Rosalin or the Phoenix, or in other words Rosalin's own
Complaint." She is also a silver-coloured dove, prayed for
on p. 21. It should be added that Grosart recognised in the
allegory certain deviations from the course of history, and
that while amazed at the audacity of Chester's revelations, he
attributed the deviations to his discretion.

It would be impossible to prove that Chester, in composing
his poem, had not Queen Elizabeth in his mind. He certainly

INTRODUCTION Ixxxix

both thought and wrote of King Lud, King Arthur, King
Alfred, the Nine Female Worthies, " stocke-fish," " the Griffon,"
" Nesewort," and other persons and things.

It may be admitted that the aberrations of a mind yielding
in turn to timidity and recklessness must be difficult to follow.
Yet it is at least equally difficult to believe that Chester
desired to combine adulation of Elizabeth with indignation
at the fate of Essex, and that he was aided and abetted by
the poets of the time. His poem neither shadowed events as
they were nor as they might have been if the Queen had been
more complacent. A few points may be noticed which render
Grosart's theory difficult to accept. The Phoenix is described
as a beautiful and naked woman with an attention to details
which indicates an inquisitive and painstaking eye-witness ;
and side-notes, such as " Necke," " Breastes," " Armes," etc.,
direct attention to the part immediately under the microscope.
This can hardly be called " a titillation of her [Elizabeth's]
vanity in compliments that ' sweet fifteen ' only might have
looked for." The Phoenix and Turtle meet immediately before
their cremation as utter strangers. Elizabeth and Essex had
been acquainted for years. The Phoenix, Elizabeth, was so
far from desiring to die before the Turtle, Essex, that she
signed his death-warrant. Chester's Phoenix and Turtle died
on the same pyre with the object of producing another
Phoenix, a female, as we learn from the Pelican. Grosart's
comment is interesting : " Fact and fiction however are inter-
blended, e.g., the ending of the poem-proper by the Author's
evident wish, furtively to pay homage to James, introduces a
disturbing element into our interpretation ; but this and other
accidents cannot be permitted to affect the substance of the
motif of these poems. The word ' allegorical ' covers all such
accidents." James might well have distrusted the furtive
homage which represented him as a woman and the joint
product of Elizabeth and Essex.

Again, a sympathiser with Essex would hardly have
associated him with Ireland, the scene of his failure. Essex
decimated his soldiers after the battle of Arklow, and made
a series of truces with O'Neill, but in the description of the
Turtle we read that

"in his brows doth sit

Bloud and sweet Mercie hand in hand united,

Bloud to his foes," etc.

The campaign in Ireland was too recent to explain
Chester's allusion in his preface to his poem as a long
expected labour; and too late in the career of Essex to

xc INTRODUCTION

permit Ireland to figure, even in an allegorical romance, as
the scene of his first meeting with Elizabeth. Moreover,
Paphos Isle is described as a land flowing with milk and
honey. It contains cedars of Lebanon and pine-apples,
liquorice and sweet Arabian spice, as well as Satyres, Driades,
Hamadriades, and pretie Elves. Ireland is and was in these
respects quite different. Neither was it known to the
English of the sixteenth century as the Isle of Saints ; and
as regards its fauna, Iceland was equally free from crocodiles
and adders; more free, indeed, than "Paphos," for, if we
accept Grosart's own interpretation (note on p. 121), there
were actually " wormes " and "serpents " in the Turtle's happy
isle, though mingled with other creatures. It is true that they
were confined

" Within a little corner towards the East,
A moorish plot of earth and dampish place,"

but they were of various kinds, and some, as Chester insists,
very deadly :

" Here lives the Worme, the Gnat, and Grashopper,
Rinatrix, Lizard, and the fruitful Bee,
The Mothe, Chelidras, and the Bloodsucker,
That from the flesh suckes bloud most speedily:
Cerastis, Aspis and the Crocadile,
That doth the way-faring passenger beguile.

The labouring Ant, and the bespeckled Adder,
The Frogge, the Tode, and Sommer-haunting Flie,
The prettie Silkeworme, and the poisnous Viper
That with his teeth doth wound most cruelly:
The Hornet and the poisonous Cockatrice,
That kills all birds by a most slie device.''

We do not need the assurance of the next line,

"The Aspis is a kind of deadly Snake,"

to recognise that the resemblance between Paphos Isle and
Elizabethan Ireland is very faint. Grosart indeed found
confirmation of his theory in the phrase " moorish plot," the
place of the serpents, which he explained as " one of the bogs
for which Ireland was and is celebrated, and in which still, in
spite of St. Patrick, frogs if not serpents are found. Be it
noted this held only of ' a little corner.' " Grosart does less
than justice to St. Patrick. In the Ireland of Elizabeth's

INTRODUCTION xci

days there were no frogs. Like so many other good things,
they were introduced from England. This was about the
year 1630, and the first printed reference is Colgan's in 1647;
see authorities cited in Thompson's Natural History of Ireland,
vol. iv. pp. 64-66.

It is to be feared that Chester's Utopia will not be found
on the map of Europe or on any other. The elements of his
description are easier to trace. The equivalents of these,
however refracted by Chester's intelligence, may be found in
Pliny's Natural History, which Chester could have plundered
with Ben Jonson's help. Holland's translation was not
published till 1601, but is convenient for reference. The
Phoenix was a native of Arabia Felix, an Earthly Paradise
famous for its spices (see Holland's Pliny, vol. i. p. 366 seqq),
especially in the land of the Sabaeans. This is " enclosed on
every side with rocks inaccessible " ; it is " full of high hills " ;
" all the race of them [i.e. the Sabaeans] is called Sacred and
Holy"; "the same storax (p. 371) they used to burne for the
chasing away of serpents, which in those forests of sweet
trees [as in the east corner of " Paphos Isle," but not in Irish
bogs] are most rife and common." If not an island, Arabia
is a "demy-Iland" (p. 371).

Later, the Happy Land was described in the poem
Carmen de Phcenice, attributed to Lactantius, and this again
was paraphrased in Anglo-Saxon, perhaps by Cynewulf. The
Latin and the paraphrase may be found in Thorpe's edition
of the Codex Exoniensis, and the latter, with a better text, in
Grein's Bibliothek der Angelsdchsischen Poesie, III. Band,
I Halfte. In the Anglo-Saxon poem, the Phoenix dwells in
the odour of sanctity : " ymb sete?S utan ... lie ond fetJre . . .
halgum stencum." In Lactantius, its country is said to be
holy, loca sancta, and it chooses for its pyre a place free from
serpents, a lofty palm,

" In quam nulla nocens animans perrumpere possit,
Lubricus aut serpens, aut avis ulla rapax."

I may add that James I. published in 1585 a poem on the
Phoenix in which he represented her as assailed by malice and
envy in lines which may perhaps have suggested the similar
passage in Chester which Grosart interpreted of Elizabeth's
youth.

Others may succeed in using what Grosart has called his
"golden key." I can only confess and regret my failure.
After all, it is possible that Chester meant what he said on
his title-page, and in his book. The Phoenix may represent

xcii INTRODUCTION

love, and the Turtle constancy, i.e. faithfulness to the memory
of his dead turtle. The love between the Phoenix and the
Turtle shows no sign of passion. They were united in will
and in deed; and the object of their self-immolation was
attained when a new and more beautiful Phoenix arose from
their ashes. This too seems to be the subject of Shake-
speare's poem, though it might, as far as could be seen
without Chester's guidance, have been written as an elegy on
two lovers who died unmarried or at least childless. Chester
adds to his poem two others, the second of which is uncon-
nected with the allegory, and the first, " Cantoes Alphabet-wise
to faire Phcenix made by the Paphian Dove," connected only
in name. We know that the Paphian Dove died a martyr,
and this is another bird, a maker of dissolute proposals, in-
disposed to share in the sacrifice, though content to bring the
materials at a price :

" He helpe to bring thee wood to make thy fire,
If thou wilt give me kisses for my hire."

In conclusion, I would submit the following questions to
all admirers of Chester, and seekers of mares' nests : —

When Chester in his dedication said he had finished his
long expected labour according to the directions of some of
his best-minded friends, did he mean that they had helped
him to write it ?

Was Shakespeare concerned in the composition of

" Her morning-coloured cheekes, in which is plac'd
A LilHe lying in a bed of roses"?

Since this lily must be either the nose, or a spot of white in
the middle of each cheek, was such assistance, if asked for,
honestly given ?

Lastly, were Shakespeare and his fellows expected to
write the usual complimentary verses as an introduction
to Chester's poem, and did they, after consultation, decide
to save their credit by substituting independent studies of
Love and Constancy?

By inadvertence, I omitted to credit Malone with the
quotation from Peele on Venus and Adonis, 1. 397, and to state
in the Introduction that Mr. Charles Crawford was the first
to call attention to Barnfield's thefts from the same poem,
and from Lucrece. Mr. Crawford noted all or nearly all the
points I have mentioned as well as others which escaped me.
His work appeared originally in Notes and Queries, and after-

INTRODUCTION xciii

wards in the first volume of his own Collectanea. It has been
summarised in the last edition of The Shakspere Allusion Book.
My thanks are due to Professor Dowden, who read
some of my earlier notes in MS., and helped me with in-
formation and advice, and from whose Introduction to The
Passionate Pilgrim I borrowed more freely perhaps than was
becoming. Readers of the notes will see how much they owe
to the unfailing kindness of Professor Case, General Editor of
this series, who gave me all I asked, besides what he added
of his learned bounty.

VENUS AND ADONIS

Vilia miretur vulgus ; mihi flavus Apollo
Pocula Castalia plena ministret aqua.

To the

Right Honorable HENRIE WRIOTHESLEY,
Earle of Southampton, and Baron of Titchfleld.

Right Honourable,
T KNO W not how I shall ojfend in dedicating my vnpolisht
lines to your Lordship, nor how the worlde will censure
mee for choosing so strong a proppe to support so weake a
burthen, onelye if your Honour seeme but pleased, I account m.y
selfe highly praised, and vowe to take aduantage of all idle
houres, till I haue honoured you with some grauer labour.
But if the first heire of my inuention proue deformed, I shall
be sorry it had so noble a godfather : and neuer after eare so
barren a land, for feare it yeeld me still so bad a haruest, I
leaue it to your Honourable suruey, and your Honor to your
hearts content which I wish may alwaies answere your owne
wish, and the worlds hopefull expectation.

Your Honors in all dutie,

William Shakespeare.

VENUS AND ADONIS

Even as the sun with purple-colour'd face
Had ta'en his last leave of the weeping morn,
Rose-cheek'd Adonis hied him to the chase;
Hunting, he lo v'd. but jove he laugh'd tp,scorn :
' SickJhaugHted'Venus makes "amain unto him,
And-iike__a_hQld-fac'd suitor 'gins to woo him.

" Thrice fairer than myself," thus she began,
"The field's chief flower, sweet above compare,
Stain to all nymphs, more lovely than a jpan,

8. chiefs sweet Sewell.

I. purple] In the poetic diction of the
time, often crimson or bright red ; the
analogy of the Latin purpureus may
have had some influence. In Shake-
speare, though used of grapes {Mid-
summer- Nighfs Dream, in. i. 170) and
of violets (Pericles, iv. i. 16), it is usu-
ally applied to blood. See Richard II.
ni. iii. 94 ; Richard III. IV. iv. 277 ;
and Romeo and Juliet, I. i. 92. Spenser
has " purple blood " in Faerie Queene, I.
ii. 17, and " Faire Aurora in her purple
pall," I. iv. 16; cf. ibid. I. ii. 7 :

"Now when the rosy fingred
Morning faire
Weary of aged Tithonus saffron

bed,
Had spred her purple robe
through deavjry aire."

2. weeping] dewy ; cf. Winter's Tale,
IV. iv. 106: "The marigold that goes
to bed wi' the sun. And with him rises
weeping" (Craig).

3. Rose-cheek'd Adonis] The epithet
occurs, as Steevens noted, in Timon of
Athens, iv. iii. 86. "Our author,"
says Malone, "perhaps remembered
Marlowe's Hero and Leander [ed. Dyce
p. 280 b] :

' The men of wealthy Sestos every
yeare,

For his sake whom their goddess

held so deare,
Rose-cheek'd Adonis, held a
solemn feast.'"
5. maies amain]hiisteas ; cf. Comedy
of Errors, i. i. 93 : " Two ships from
far making amain to us." So "fly
amain," The Tempest, w. i. 74; " march
amain," Titus Andronicus, iv. iv. 65,
where likewise the original notion of
vigour has passed into that of speed.

9. Stain] Mr. Wyndham explains
this as " injury," and cites Sonnet cix. :
" So that myself bring water for thy
stain." The meaning is rather "superior
in beauty " ; cf. Lodge, Verses from
William Longbeard (Glaucus and Silla,
ed. 1819, p. 119) ;

"Think that the staine of bewtie
then is stained.
When lewd desires doo alienate
the hart ; "
where "staine of bewtie" means pre-
eminent beauty. The verb in the sense
of surpass or excel is common. See
Romeus and Juliet (Shaks. Soc. p. 77) :
"Whose beauty and whose shape

so farre the rest did stayne,
,That from the cheefe of Veron youth
he greatest fame dyd gaine " ;
Lyly, ed. Bond, ii. p. 22 : " two

6 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

More white and red than doves or roses are; lO

Nature that made thee with herself at strife,
Saith that the world hath ending with thy life.

"Vouchsafe, thou wonder, to alight thy steed,

And rein his proud head to the saddle-bow ;

If thou wilt deign this favour, for thy meed 15

A thousand honey secrets shalt thou know :

Here come and sit, where never serpent hisses,
And being set, I '11 smother thee with kisses ;

"And yet not cloy thy lips with loath'd satiety,

But rather famish them amid their plenty, 20

Making them red and pale with fresh variety;

Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty :

A summer's day will seem an hour but short,
Being wasted in such time-beguiling sport."

With this she seizeth on his sweating palm, 25

The precedent of pith and livelihood,

10. or roses] and roses Farmer conj. Ii. thee\ thee, Malone, Cambridge.
17. never serpent hisses'] serpents never hisses Q 13, serpent never hisses Gildon.
24. tiiiie-beguiling] thne-beguilding Q 4, time, be^iling Q 10. 26. precedent]
Malone (Capell MS.), president Qq.

Rubies be they never so lyke, yet if her husband's sight, placed himself by

they be brought together one staineth her."

the other " ; iii. p. 70 (ironically) ; 20. famish them] Malone compares

" whose teeth shal be so pure a watchet, Antony and Cleopatra, \\. ii. 241 : "other

that they shall staine the truest Turkis " women cloy The appetites they feed :

(turquoise) ; ibid. p. 142 : but she makes hungry Where most she

" My Daphne's brow inthrones the satisfies."

Graces, 24. wasted] spent ; used in a good
My Daphne's beauty staines all sense also in Tempest, v. 1. 302 :
faces " ; " part of it [the night] I '11 waste With
and Sidney has "sun-staining excell- such discourse as I not doubt shall make
encie" (^?ra</;'a, 10th ed. p. 2); and \t<^0 0im<^^\iz.y" ; Merchant of Venice,
even: "O voice that doth the thrush ill. iv. 12; " companions That do con-
in shrillness stain " (BuUen, Lyrics from verse and waste the time together " ; and
Elizabethan Romances, p. 3). Milton, Sonnet xx. : " Where shall we

11, 12. Nature . . , life] There is no sometimes meet and by the fire Help
comma after rt« in Q I . Nature strove waste a sullen day ?"

to surpass herself in making her master- 25. palm] For the indications of a

piece, Adonis, and if he dies will (in moist palm, Steevens compares Antony

disgust or despair) cease to work ; cf 11. and Cleopatra, I. ii. 53 ; and Malone,

953, 9S4 : "Now Nature cares not for Othello, iii. iv. 36-39.

thy [Death's] mortal vigour, Since her 26. The . . . livelihood] The evidence

best work is ruin'd with thy rigour." or token of vigorous life. Precedent

18. j«^] seated ; cf Two Gentlemen of has a similar meaning in Z'zVaj ^«rfroK«-

Verona, II. i. 91 : " In' conclusion, I cus, v. iii. 44 : "A reason mighty,

stand affected to her. — I would you were strong, and effectual ; A pattern, prece-

set, so your affection would cease " ; and dent, and lively warrant " ; and Lear, II.

Pettiis Palace, ed. GoUancz, i. 18 : iii. 13 : " The country gives me proof

"Sinorix , ■ . seeing her set out of and precedent Of Bedlam beggars."

VENUS AND ADONIS 1

And, trembling in her passion, calls it balm.
Earth's sovereign salve to do a goddess good :
Being so enrag'd, desire doth lend her force
Courageously to pluck him from his horse. 30

Over one arm the lusty courser's rein.
Under her other was the tender boy,
Wh_Q^blush'd and pouted in a dull disdain,
With readeff'appetite, unapt to toy ;

She red and hot as coals of glowing fire, 35

tje-TfidJbJLjfaame, but frosty jn desire.

The studded bridle on a ragged bough

Nimbly she fastens — O, how quick is love ! —

The steed is stalled up, and even now

To tie the rider she begins to prove :'tDw 40

Backward she push'd him, as she would be thrust,
And govern'd him in strength, though not in lust.

So soon was she along as he was down.

Each leaning on their elbows and their hips :

Now doth she stroke his cheek, now doth he frown, 45

And 'gins to chide, but soon she stops his lips;

And kissing speaks, with lustful language broken,
" If thou wilt chide, thy lips shall never open."

He burns with bashful shame; she with her tears

Doth quench the maiden burning of his cheeks ; 50

Then with her windy sighs and golden hairs

To fan and blow them dry again she seeks :

He saith she is immodest, blames her ^niss ;

What follows more she murders with a kiss.

32. her] Qq 1-4, the The rest. 53. saith] sayes Qq 12, 13 ; miss] 'miss

Malone. 54. murders] murthers Qq 1-4, smothers The rest.

For "pith," marrow, and hence 37. ragged]xow^\ ci. Two Gentlemen

strength, cf. Measttre for Measure, I. iv. of Verona, i. ii. 121 : " Unto a ragged,

70 : " pith of business " ; Hamlet, iv. i. fearful-hanging rock '' ; Merry Wives,

23: "pith of life"; sxA Henry V. ni. iv. iv. 31: "great ragg'd horns";

Prol. 21 : "Guarded with grandsires, Richard II. v. v. 21 : "ragged prison

babies, and old women Either past or walls " ; and figuratively, " ragged

not arrived to pith and puissance." repulses" for rough refusals, in Pettie's

30. pluck] pull or drag. More effort Palace, vol. ii. p. 40 (ed. Gollancz).

is implied than in the modern use ; cf. 40. prove] try, attempt. See Much

Two Gentlemen of Verona, ill. i. 266 : Ado, I. iii. 75 : " Shall we go prove

' ' A team of horses shall not pluck that what 's to be done ? " ; i Henry VI. II.

from me"; Taming of the Shrew, iv. ii. 58: "I mean to prove this lady's

i. 80; "how she waded through the courtesy"; and Ci3r2(;/a»«J,v.i. 60: "I'll

dirt to pluck him off me "; and ^ .&««?;)/ prove him, Speed how it will. I shall'

IV. I. iii. 49: ""to pluck a kingdom erelonghaveknowledgeOfmysuccess."

down And set another up." 53. miss] misdeed or misbehaviour ;

SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast,
Tires with her beak on feathers, flesh, and bone.
Shaking her wings, devouring all in haste,
Till either gorge be stuff d or prey be gone;

Even so she kiss'd his brow, his cheek, his chin.
And where she ends she doth anew begin.

55

60

Forc'd to content, but never to obey,
Panting he lies and breatheth in her face;
She feedeth on the steam as on a prey.
And calls it heavenly moisture, air of grace;

Wishing her cheeks were gardens full of flowers.
So they were dew'd with such distilling showers.

Look, how a bird lies tangled in a net.

So fasten'd in her arms Adonis lies;

Pure shame and aw'd resistance madejjm Jret,

65

56. feathers'] feather Qq 2-4, 6.
eth] Qq 1-3, breathing The rest,
ed. 2 (S. Walker conj.).

cf. Davidson's Poetical Rhapsody, ed.
Nicholas, vol. ii. p. 236 :

' ' Nay, nay ; thou striv'st in vain,
my heart.
To mend thy miss ;
Thou hast deserv'd to bear this
smart,
And worse than this.''
See also Digby Plays, ed. Furnivall,
p. 151 : " synne noon is but if the soule
consent unto mys " ; and Dunbar, ed.
Small, vol. ii. p. ']0: "I sail, as scho
[the Magdalene] weip teris for my miss. "
The form "amiss" is more usual. See
Lyly, Woman in the Moone, IV. i. 151 :
' ' Pale be my lookes to witnesse my
amisse " ; and Guilpin's Skialetheia
(Reprint, p. 44) : " For false suspicion
of another is A sure condemning of
our own amisse."

56. 7z>«j] feeds ravenously. Malone's

" peck " is too mild. Cotgrave has

' ' Tirer. To draw, drag, trayle, tow,

hale, puU, pluck, lug, tug, twitch."

Nares explains : " A term in falconry ;

from tirer, French, to drag or pull.

The hawk was said to tire on her prey

[or on the lure] when it was thrown to

her, and she began to pull at it and

tear it." See his examples, also Selimus

(Grosart's Greene, xiv. p. 243) :

" As Tityus in the countrie of the dead,

With restlesse cries doth call upon

high Jove,

61. content'] consent Gildon. 62. breath-
66. such distilling] hyphened by Dyce,

The while the vulture tireth on his
heart " ;
but ibid. p. 217 : "Tiring his stomache
on a flocke of lambes. "

61. Forc^ d to content] "Content is a
substantive, and means acquiescence,"
says Malone, who once thought that
the meaning was " to content or satisfy
Venus ; to endure her kisses." Steevens
had in the meantime explained "that
Adonis was forced to content himself in
a situation from which he had no means
of escaping, " citing Othello, III. iv. 1 20 :
"So shall I clothe me in a forced con-
tent." See also 1 Henry IV. 11. iii. 120 :
" Will this content you, Kate ? — It must
of force " ; and 3 Henry VI. iv. vi. 48 :
" Why then, though loath, yet must I
be content." Prof. Case writes: "It
does not, however, appear why ' con-
tent ' cannot be used actively. If he
acquiesced he would obey, but Shake-
speare says he does not obey."

63. She . . . prey] Cf. Sidney's Ar-
cadia (lOth ed. p. 365): "hee was
compelled to put his face as low to
hers as he could, sucking the breath
with such joy, that he did determine in
himself, there had been no life to a
Chameleons \i.e. none so pleasant] if
he might be suffered to enjoy that
food."

69. aw'd resistance] the fact that he
feared to resist.

VENUS AND ADONIS 9

Which bred more beauty in his angry eyes: 70

Rain added to a river that is rank
Perforce will force it overflow the bank.

Still she entreats, and prettily entreats,

For to a pretty ear she tunes her tale ;

Still is he sullen, still he lours andjrets, 75

'TwiSct crliBsorrsFame, and anget ashy-pale ;

Being red^ she loves him best: and being white,
Her best is better'd with a more delight.

Look how he can, she cannot choose but love ;

And by her fair immortal hand she swears, 80

From his soft bosom never to remove,

Till he take truce with her contending tears,

Which long have rain'd, making her cheeks all wet ;

And one sweet kiss shall pay this countless debt.

Upon this promise did he raise his chin, 85

Like a dive-dapper peering through a wave,

Who, being look'd on, ducks as quickly in;

So_offers he to give what she did crave ;

But'when her lips were ready for his .pay.

He winks, and turns his lips another way. 90

74. ear] care Q 13, air Malone conj. 7S' ^^ ^*] ^^. " Ql 9, n-ij ;
he] she Qq 3, 4. 76. ashy-pale] hyphened by Malone. 78. best] brest

Qq 11-13, breast Lintott and Gildon ; better'd] fetter' d Theobald conj. MS.,
reading breast. 82. take] takes Q 4. 86. dive-dapper] die-dapper Qq 7, 10.
8g. her] his Qq 9, 11-13. 90. winksy and turns] winkt^ and tiirnde Q 10.

71. rank] "full, abounding in the &\.xwcz" ; axA Troilus and Cressida,\\.

quantity of its waters " — Malone, who ii. 75 : " The seas and winds, old

compares King John, v. iv. 54 : wranglers, took a truce And did him

"We will untread the steps of service."

damned flight, 86. dive-dapper] " This is the little

And like a bated and retiring grebe or dabchick (Podiceps minor).

flood, In some parts of the country I have

Leaving our rankness and heard it called 'di'dapper'" (Harting,

irregular course, Birds of Shakespeare, p. 258). It is

Stoop low within those bounds "dyvendop" in Skelton's Phillyp

we have o'erlooked." Sparrowe (Dyce, i. 65). " Didapper "

See also Drayton, Polyolbion, ix. 139 : is, as Prof. Case notes, the form in

" And with stern /Eolus' blasts, Pope, Art of Sinking (Elwin, x. 362) :

like Thetis waxing rank, ' ' The Didappers are authors that keep

She only over-swells the surface themselves long out of sight, under

of her bank. " water, and come up now and then where

78. more] greater, as often; but you least expected them."

Warburton, forgetting the old meaning, go. winks] Explained by Mr. Wynd-

conjectured " an o'er delight." ham as "here akin to wince, formerly

82. take truce] make a truce, come to also winch, from O. Fr. guinchir,

terms with, as in King John, m. i. 17 : guenchir, to start aside." Wince really

" With my vex'd spirits I cannot take represents an older form *wencir (see

10 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Never did passenger in summer's heat

More thirst for drink than she for this good turn.

Her help she sees, but help she cannot get;

She bathes in water, yet her fire must burn :

" O, pity," 'gan she cry, " flint-hearted boy ! 95

'Tis but a kiss I beg: why art thou coy?

" I have been woo'd, as I entreat thee now.

Even by the stern and direful god of war,

Whose sinewy neck in battle ne'er did bow,

Who conquers where he comes in every jar; 100

Yet hath he been my captive and my slave.
And begg'd for that which thou unask'd shalt have.

" Over my altars hath he hung his lance.

His batter'd shield, his uncontrolled crest.

And for my sake hath learn'd to sport and dance, 105

To toy, to wanton, dally, smile and jest ;

Scorning his churlish drum and ensign red,
Making my arms his field, his tent my bed.

" Thus he that overrul'd I overswayed.

Leading him prisoner in a red rose chain: no

Strong-temper'd steel his stronger strength obeyed.

Yet was he servile to my coy disdain.

O, be not proud, nor brag not of thy might.
For mastering her that foil'd the god of fight !

94. her] Qq 1-4, in The rest. 102. shalf] shall Q 10. 106. toy] Qq I, 2 ;
coy The rest. 114. thai] who Q 10.

Skeat), but it is not the word. See "open war," jar is used byLylyofthe

1. 121 : "then wink again," etc., where Wars of the Roses (vol. ii. p. 205):

the meaning is close the eyes or keep "These jarres continued, long, not

them shut, as in Lyly, Mother Bombie, without great losse both to the Nobilitie

I. ii. 40 : " he is able to make a Ladies and Commonaltie." Cf. Comedy of

mouth water if she wink not " ; and Errors, I. i. 1 1 : " mortal and intestine

Euphues (Wks. ed. Bond, ii. 9): jars"; and Gascoigne (Cambridge ed.),

"better it were to holde Euphues in i. p. 141 : "Howe unexpert I

y our hands, though you let him fal, when am in feates of war ... I may not

you be willing to winke, then \i.e. than] boast of any cruell jarre." The passage

to sowe in a clout, and pricke your in the text recalls Greene, Euphues his

fingers, when you begin to nod. " Censure (ed. Grosart, vi. 160):

91. /Mj««^er] wayfarer, traveller ; cf. "Mars had rather oppose him selfe

Lyly, ed. Bond, vol. ii. p. 4 : "I against all the Gods, then enter a jarre

resemble the Lappwing, who fearing with Venus."

hir young ones to be destroyed by no. Leading . . . chain] Malone

passengers, flyeth with a false cry gives W.'s reference to Ronsard, Livre

farre from their nestes, making those xiv. Ode xxiii. :

that looke for them seeke where they "Les Muses lierent un jour

are not." Des chaisnes de roses Amour," etc.,

100. jar] Though contrasted by itself an imitation of Anacreon, Ode

Drayton (Polyolbion, iii. 99) with xxx., which tells how the Muses bound

VENUS AND ADONIS 11

" Touch but my lips with those fair -lips of thine — i 1 5
Though mine be not so fair, yet are they red —
The kiss shall be thine own as well as mine :
What see'st thou in the ground ? hold up thy head :

Look in mine eyeballs, there thy beauty lies ;

Then why not lips on lips, since eyes in eyes? 120

" Art thou asham'd to kiss ? then wink again,

And I will wink ; so shall the day seem night ;

Love keeps his revels where there are but twain;

Be bold_tP play, pur sport is not in sight :

These blue-vein'd violets whereon we lean 125

Never can blab, nor know not what we mean.

" The tender spring upQn_ the tempting lip

Shews, thee unripe ; yet mayst thou well be tasted:

Make use of time, let not advantage slip ;

Beauty within itself should not be wasted : 1 30

Fair flowers that are not gather'd in their prime
Rot and consume themselves in little time.

" Were I hard-favour'd, foul, or wrinkled-old,
Ill-nurtur'd, crooked, churlish, harsh in voice,
O'erworn, despised, rheumatic and cold, 135

116. are they'] they are Gildon. 118. in] on Sewell. 119. there] Qq 1-3,
where The rest. 120. in] Qq 1-4, on The rest. 123. revels] rivals Q 10 ;
there are] Q I, they bee Q 10, there be The rest. 126. not] Qq 1-4, they The
rest. 130. j^(i«/i^] 7«o«&? Lintott and Gildon. 133. 7frm,4/«^-fl/uG hyphened
by Malone. 134. Ill-nurttir'd] III naiur' d Qi:\ 6, 8; Ill-natur'd Q<i 9, 11-13.

Eros with garlands — roses are not "Well I must seem to wink at his

mentioned — and handed him over to desire,

Beauty, and how he refused to be re- Although I see it plainer than

leased. Farmer had found a source for the day."

Timon, iv. iii. 439-445, "The sun's 126. blab] Perhaps as the reeds re-

a thief," etc., in Ronsard's "La terre peated the story of Midas's asses' ears

les eaux va boivant," etc., the 19th when his barber " did hyde His blabbed

Ode of Anacreon, and quoted Putten- woordes within the ground " (Golding's

ham, The Arte of English Poesie (ed. Metamorphoses, xi. 210). For "blab"

Arber, p. 259), to show that some of meaning tell tales, see Twelfth Night,

Ronsard's adaptations of Anacreon and I. ii. 63 ; and ;? Henry VI. III. i. 154.

others had been in turn translated into 130. Beauty . . . wasted] Cf.

English. The context in Puttenham Somuts, i.-vi., a common-place in

shows that he was not referring to these Elizabethan literature,

two odes, and Shakespeare may have 135. Overworn] worn out; cf. 1.

read them in French. According to 866: " Musing the morning is so much

Malone, they appear on opposite pages o'erworn " ; and Sonnets, Ixiii. :

of Ronsard's works. In any case, the "With Time's injurious hand crush'd

rhythm of the line is Shakespeare's and o'erworn."

own. 135. rheumatic] For the accent cf.

121. wink] See note on 1. 90, and Midsummer ■ Nighf s Dream, 11. i.

cf. Selifnus, 1. 489 : loj.

12 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Thick-sighted, barren, lean, and lacking juice,

Then mightst thou pause, for then I were not for

thee ;
But having no defects, why dost abhor me ?

"Thou canst not see one wrinkle in my brow;

Mine eyes are grey and bright and quick in turning; 140

My beauty as the spring doth yearly grow,

My flesh is soft and plump, my marrow burning;

My smooth moist hand, were it with thy^hand felt,
Would in thy palm dissolve, or seem to melt.

"Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear, 145

Or, like a fairy, trip upon the green,

Or, like a nymph, with long dishevell'd hair.

Dance on the sands, and yet no footing seen :

Love is a spirit all compact of fire.

Not gross to sink, but light, and will aspire. 150

" Witness this primrose bank whereon I He ;

These forceless flowers like sturdy trees support me;

Two strengthless doves will draw me through the sky,

From morn till night, even where I list to sport me : •
Is love so light, sweet boy, and may it be 155

That thou shouldst think it heavy unto thee?

142. z'j] as Lintott and Gildon ; plump] Qq 9, \\, plumpe Qq 1-3, 12, 13,
plumbe Q 4, plum The rest. 152. These] Qq 1-4, The The rest. 154. till]
to Boswell. 156. shouldst] should Q i.

136. Thick-sighted] dim -eyed ; cf. The footing or printe of an Hartes foote
Julius Ccesar, v. iii. 21 : " My sight was is called the Slot" etc.

ever thick"; and 1 Henry IV. II. iii. 149. coOT/ffrf] composed ; cf. As You

49 : "To thick-eyed musing and cursed Like It, II. vii. 5 ; " If he compact of

melancholy." For "sight" meaning jars grow musical, We shall have shortly

"eyes "seel. 183. discord in the spheres"; Titus And-

137, 138. for thee . . . abhor me] ronicus, v. iii. 88 : " My heart is not
Mr. Wyndham notes the defective rime, compact of flint or iron." of fire] i.e.

140. grey] According to Malone, not of the grosser elements ; cf.^e«?3/ F.

what we now call blue eyes were in III. vii. 15-24; "When I bestride him

Shakespeare's time called grey, and I soar, ... he is pure air and fire :

considered eminently beautiful. He and the dull elements of earth and water

quotes 1. 482; "Her two blue 'win- never appear in him. " 'Ss&^slso Sonnets,

dows faintly she up.heaveth." See xliv. and xlv.

note on Romeo arid Juliet, 11. iv. 47, 150. aspire] rise, ascend; cf. the

in this series, where Prof. Dowden cites figurative use in Greene, Royal Ex- ,

Cotgrave : " Bluard : m. arde : f. Gray, change {G10s3.1t, vii. p. 282): "They

skie coloured, blewish." which envie at other mens good fortunes

I48.y»«^z«^] mark of feet ; cf. Turber- being aspyred, and growne to prefer-

vi\e's£ookeoflIunting{Keiprmt,p.23g]: ment, and after abased: shame so at

"The termes of the treading or footing their fall and at their own defect, that

of all beastes of cliace and Venerie. they cease to envie."

VENUS AND ADONIS 13

" Is thine own heart to thine own face affected ?

Can thy right hand seize love upon thy left?

Then woo thyself, be of thyself rejected,

Steal thine own freedom, and complain on theft. i6o

Narcissus so himself himself forsook,
And died to kiss his shadow in the brook.

"Torches are made to light, jewels to wear,

Dainties to taste, fresh beauty for the use,

Herbs for their smell, and sappy plants to bear; 165

Things growing to themselves are growth's abuse :

Seeds spring from seeds and beauty breedeth beauty;

Thou wast begot; to get it is thy duty.

"Upon the earth's increase why shouldst thou feed, ^
Unless the earth with thy increase be fed? 1 rii' 17°
By law of nature thou art bound to breed, ' -^
That thine may live when thou thyself art dead ;

And so, in spite of death, thou dost survive,

In that thy likeness still is left alive,"

By this, the love-sick queen began to sweat, 175

For, where they lay, the shadow had forsook them,

160. on} Qq I, 2, o/The rest. 168. was/] Qq 1-3, weri The rest.

157. to . . . affected] in love with; any im^e or reflection, ^c^ King John,
cf. Cyinbeline, v. v. 38 : 11. i. 498 : " The shadow of myself

" First, she confess'd she never loved formed in her eye" ; and Richard III.

you, only I. ii. 264: "Shine out, fair sun, till I

Affected greatness got by you, not have brought a glass, That I may see

you : my shadow as I pass."
Married your royalty, was wife to 166. to themselves] for themselves

your place : only. Malone compares 1. 1 1 80, and

Abhorr d your person." Sonnets, xciv. 10 :

158. seize . . . left] This seems to " The summer's flower is to the
mean, " seize on love in seizing on your summer sweet,

left hand," i.e. clasp your left as a Though to itself it only live and

lover. See Romeo and Juliet, iii.ai. 'if,: die."

" more courtship lives In carrion-flies 168. Thott . . . duty] The thought

than Romeo : they may seize On the here, and in Sonnets, xiii. 14, is found

white wonder of dear Juliet's hand." in Sidney (ed. Grosart, vol. iii. p. 45) :

Seizure is embrace or hand -clasp, " The father justly may of thee com-

used figuratively, in King John, III. i. plaine,

241. If thou doe not repay his deeds

162. And . . . irooh] " For," as for thee,

Golding relates (Metamorphosis, iii. In granting unto him a grandsire's

520-523): "like' a foolish noddie He gaine.

[Narcissus] thinkes the shadow that he Thy common-wealth may rightly

sees, to be a lively bodie. Astraughted grieved be,

like an ymage made of Marble stone Which must by this immortall be

he lyes, There gazing on his shadow still preserved,

with fixed staring eyes." "Shadow" If thou thus murther thy pos-

is often used of a portrait and also of teritie."

14 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

And Titan, tired in the mid-day heat,

With burning eye did hotly overlook them.
Wishing Adonis had his team to guide,
So he were like him and by Venus' side. 1 80

And now Adonis, with a lazy spright,
And with a heavy, dark, disliking eye,
His louring brows o'erwhelming his fair sight,
Like misty vapours when they blot the sky.

Souring his cheeks, cries, "Fie, no more of love! 185
The sun doth burn my face; I must remove."

" Ay me," quoth Venus, " young, and so unkind !

What bare excuses mak'st thou to be gone !

I'll sigh celestial breath, whose gentle wind

Shall cool the heat of this descending sun: 190

I'll make a shadow for thee of my hairs ;

If they burn too, I'll quench them with my tears.

" The sun that shines from heaven shines but warm.
And, lo, I lie between that sun and thee:
The heat I have from thence doth little harm, 195

Thine eye darts forth the fire that burneth me;

And were I not immortal, life were done

Between this heavenly and earthly sun.

177. iireii] 'tired (for attired) Collier. 1&6. face ;'] face Q \,face. The rest.
188. gone!'] so Q 5, The rest have a note of interrogation. 194. that] the

Qq 12, 13. 198. and] and this Qq 7, 10.

177. Titan] the sun, as in Troilus the eye] Awakes my heart to heart's

and Cressida, v. x. 25 ; and Romeo and eyes' delight " ; Greene, Tullies

and Juliet, II. iii. 4. Zcw^ (Grosart, vii. 112): "the gorgeous

177. tired] Though Milton speaks of windowes of the Citie were stuffed with
the sun as " Robed in flame and amber troupes of beautiful Ladies tickled with
light," "tired" can hardly mean here, an earnest desire to satisfie their sightes
as Boswell thought, "attired," for not with his Personage"; and Lodge,
even the colour of clothing is suggested. Glaucus and Silla (ed. 1819, p. 18):
Shakespeare may have remembered the "The piteous nimphes . . . Did loose
difficulties of the sun's course as enu- the springs of their remorseful sight,
raexaXsAinOviA, Metamorf hoses, hV.\i,, And wept so sore to see his scant
but more probably he fancifully repre- redresse."

sented it as feeling what it inflicts. 185. Souring] Cf. Richard II. 11. i.

178. overlook] gaze on; cf. Greene's l6g : " sour my patient cheek Or bend
Menaphon (Grosart, vi. 115) : " Samela one wrinkle on my sovereign's face."
espying the faire Sheepheard so far 188. bare] shamelessly inadequate ;
overgone in his gazing, stept to him, see 1 Henry IV. III. ii. 13 : " Such
and askt him if he knew her that hee poor, such bare, such lewd, such mean
so overlookt her." attempts"; Henry VIII. v. iii. 125:

183. louring] frowning; cf. 1. 75. "sudden commendations . . . They

w^f.^i'] perhaps "eyes," as possibly in are too thin and bare to hide offences " ;

1. 822; cf. Sonnets, xlvii. 13: "Or Coriolanus, v. i. 20: "he replied, It

if they [i.e. my thoughts] sleep, thy was a bare petition of a state To one

picture in my sight [i.e. the image in whom they had punish'd."

VJKWUS AJ\U ADONIS 15

" Art thou obdurate, flinty, hard as steel ?

Nay, more than flint, for stone at rain relenteth : 2CX3

Art thou a woman's son, and canst not feel

"What.'tjsjojpve? how want of love tormenteth? ,
O, had thy mother borne so hard a mind.
She had not brought forth thee, but died unkind.

"What am I, that thou shouldst contemn me this? 205

Or what great danger dwells upon my suit?

What were thy lips the worse for one poor kiss?

Speak, fair; but speak fair words, or else be mute:
Give me one kiss, I '11 giye it thee again,
And one for interest, if thou wilt have twain. 210

"Fie, lifeless picture, cold and senseless stone.

Well painted idol, image dull and dead.

Statue contenting but the eye alone.

Thing like a man, but of no woman bred !

Thou art no man, though of a man's complexion, 215
For men will kiss even by their own direction."

This said, impatience chokes her pleading tongue.
And swelling passion doth provoke a pause;
Red cheeks and fiery eyes blaze forth her wrong;

203. hard] Q I, bad The rest. 205. this] thus Q 10 and Capell MS.
213. Statue] Statue Qq 1-3. 214. no] a Q 10.

199. obdurate] Accented as in Tittts quoting other defective rimes — unlikely
Andronicus, II. iii. 160 ; 2 Henry VI. . . . quickly ; adder . . . shudder.
IV. vii. 122, etc. Malone paraphrased, "that thou shouldst

200. relenteth] becomes soft. There contemptuously refuse this favour that
is a. sumlai use in Measure for Measure, I ask." But "this" in the sense of
III. i. 239 : " He, a marble to her tears, " thus " is not uncommon in our older
is washed with them but relents not." writers. See Skelton (ed. Dyce, vol. i.
Prof. Case compares Chaucer, Chanouns p. 3) : " This dealid this world with me
Yemannes Tale, 725: "He stired as it lyst"; ibid. p. 63: "Of fortune
the coles, til relente gan The wex agayn this thechaunceStandethonvariaunce" ;
the fyr." ibid.-^. 161 : " Where Christis precious

204. unkind] unnatural (Malone), blode Dayly offred is To be pointed
childless (Schmidt). On which Prof, this" ; 'RaAitt's Early Popular Toetry,
Case says: "Malone's meaning seems vol. iv. p. 106: "For I can not lyve
to me due to an inability to accept this in wrechednes " ; and The Proude
the obvious sense when there is an idio- Wyves Paternoster, ibid. p. 156: "I
matic one in existence, a common was never thys a frayde, I make god
fault with annotators, — Schmidt's, mere a vow."

guess-work. Unkind is to me the 211. ficture]See Merchant of Venice,

natural sequel to "hard" in the pre- I. ii. 76; and Lyly (ed. Bond, ii. 48),

ceding line, and the sense of the whole where Euphues, speaking of his com-

this : Had your mother been as hard- panion, Philautus, whom Fidus had

hearted as you, she would not have called " tongue-tied," says : "I seemed

relented, and you would not have been to everyone to beare with me the picture

born." of a proper man but no living person."

205. this] Steevens proposed thus, 219. Waxe] proclaim, with perhaps a

16 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Being judge in love, she cannot right her cause: 220

j^nd now she weeps, and now she fain would speak,
And now her sobs do her intendments break.

Sometimes she shakes her head, and then his hand,
Now gazeth she on him, now on the ground ;
Sometimes her arms infold him like a band : 225

She would, he will not in her arms be bound;

And when from thence he struggles to be gone,

She locks her lily fingers one in one.

" Fondling," she saith, " since I have hemm'd thee here

Within the circuit of this ivory pale, 230

I '11 be a park, and thou shalt be my deer ;

Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or in dale:
Graze on my lips, and if those hills be dry,
Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie.

"Within this limit is relief enough, 235

Sweet bottom-grass and high delightful plain.
Round rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough,

225. like a Band] as a band Q lo. 226. will] would Q 10. 228. her] their
Farmer conj. 229. she saith] saith she Lintott and Gildon, said she Ewing.
231. a] Qq I, 2, MisThe rest, thy Malone (1790). 236. bottom-grass] hyphened
by Malone.

suggestion in the words red and fiery of appears so early ; while as a substantive,

its meaning in heraldry. See Lyly fed. used tenderly or contemptuously, it is

Bond, ii. 205 ) : " drawen with a blacke common. See Lyly, Woman in the

coale, for others to blaze with a bright Moone, 11. i. 230: "But fondling as I

colour"; and iii. 78: "shouldst thou am why grieve I thus?" ; Greene (ed.

live wanting a tongue to blaze the beautie Grosart, ii. 134): "such foolish fondlings,

of Semele ? " as will be lovers, but for lust " ; ix. 94 :

220. Being] i.e. though she is. " Venus had pittied the fondling " ; ibid.

222. intendments] intended words, iii. : "suchis the nature of these fondlings

It occurs meaning "intention" in As that they cannot cover their owne scapes."

You Like It, I. i. 140 ; Henry V. I. In the Digby Mysteries (ed. Furnivall,

ii. 144; and Othello, IV. ii. 206. p. 6), Herod uses it of the children in

229. Fondling] Mr. Wyndham says directing the soldiers to kill them :

that "the word is descriptive of Venus' "Therfor quyte you wele in feld and

action, not a term of endearment applied town And of all the fondlynges make a

to Adonis." Hey wood does not seem dely veraunce. " Besides, Venus could

to have so understood it ; see Fair Maid hardly be said to fondle Adonis when

of the Exchange {Ve&rson, ii. 55): her fingers were locked, forming "an

Bow. " Why then have at her. ivory pale" {i.e. palisade).

Fondling I say, since I have 230, 231. Within . . . deer] Bor-

hem'd thee heere, rowed by Waller, On a Girdle, 1. 6 :

Within the circle of this "The pale which held that lovely deer."

ivory pale, 235. relief] food. See Master of

He be a parke.'' Cazwd (Reprint 1909, p. 14, note); "Re-

Mall. " Hands off, fond sir." lief, which denoted the act of arising

Here "fond sir" seems to be "fond- and going to feed, became afterwards

ling" retorted. It is doubtful if the term for the feeding itself."

"fondling" in the sense of caressing 236. fo«o;»] valley, dale. See As You

VENUS AND ADONIS 17

To shelter thee from tempest and from rain :
Then be my deer, since I am such a park,
No dog shall rouse thee, though a thousand bark." 240

At this Adonis smiles as in disdain,
That in each cheek appears a pretty dimple:
Love made those hollows, if himself were slain,
He might be buried in a tomb so simple;

Foreknowing well, if there he came to lie, 245

Why, there Love liv'd, and there he could not die.

These lovely caves, these round enchanting pits,

Open'd their mouths to swallow Venus' liking.

Being mad before, how doth she now for wits ?

Struck dead at first, what needs a second striking? 250
Poor queen of love, in thine own law forlorn,
To love a cheek that smiles at thee in scorn !

Now which way shall she turn? what shall she say?

Her words are done, her woes the more increasing;

The time is spent, her object will away 255

And from her twining arms doth urge releasing.

" Pity," she cries, " some favour, some remorse ! "
Away he springs, and hasteth to his horse.

252. in] with Q 13. 253. she say\ we say Q 4. 258. springs] spriiig'th
Qio.

Like It, IV. iii. 79> where " the goeth to rowze a deare, or to unharbor a

neighbour bottom" is the next valley. Hart or so," etc. But hunting terms

239. park, ] I have restored the comma were used more freely than some modern
of Q I , as the meaning may be, such a scholars would admit. Turbervile him-
park that in it no dog shall rouse thee, self is inconsistent ; on p. 100 he says :
rather than such - park as I have de- " a Fox or such like vermyne are raysed.
scribed. Malone and Camb. Edd. point An Hart and a Bucke likewise, reared,
with a semicolon. rouzed, and unharbored " ; and his

240. rouse] Mr. Wyndham explains : apology for his inconsistency is worth
a " term of art in venery," quoting the noting (p. 236) : ' ' And if the Reader do
2nded. oiQmSS&cci s Display of Heraldrie find that in any parte of the discourses
(in 3rd ed. p. 176 ; not in ist ed. 1611) : in this booke, I have termed any of them
"You shall say Dislodge the Bucke . . . otherwise, then let him also consider
Rowse [the] Hart." Yet I think a that in handling of an Arte, or in setting
buck, a beast of the chase, was in down rules and precepts of anything,
Shakespeare's mind : it was certainly a man must use such woordes as may be
more likely to be found in parks ; and most easie, perspicuous and intelligible. "
Turbervile's testimony is directly con- So in Shakespeare, "rouse" is used of
trary to Guillim's. %tt Booke of Hunting the lion, 1 Henry IV. I. iii. 198; of
(1576, Reprint, p. 241): "We herbor the panther, Titits Andronicus, 11. ii.
and Unherbor a Harte, and he lieth in 21 ; and, by Sir Toby, of the night-owl,
his layre ; we lodge and rowse a Bucke, " in a catch that will draw three souls
and he lieth also in his layre : we seeke out of one weaver," Twelfth Night, 11.
and finde the Rowe and he beddeth " ; iii. 60.

and ibid. p. 98: "When a huntsman

18 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

But, lo, from forth a copse that neighbours by,

A breeding jennet, lusty, young and proud, 260

Adonis' trampling courser doth espy,

And forth she rushes, snorts and neighs aloud :

The strong-neck'd steed, being tied unto a tree,
Breaketh his rein and to her straight goes he.

Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds, 265

And now his woven girths he breaks asunder;
The bearing earth with his hard hoof he wounds.
Whose hollow womb resounds like heaven's thunder ;
The iron bit he crusheth 'tween his teeth,
Controlling what he was controlled with. 270

His ears up-prick'd; his braided hanging mane

Upon his compass'd crest now stand on end ;

His nostrils drink the air, and forth again.

As from a furnace, vapours doth he send :

His eye, which scornfully glisters like fire, 275

Shows his hot courage and his high desire.

Sometime he trots, as if he told the steps.

With gentle majesty and modest pride;

Anon he rears upright, curvets and leaps.

As who should say " Lo, thus my strength is tried ; 280

259. forth] thence Q 10. 261. doth] did Q 10. 266. girths] Qq 2, 3,

girthes Q i, girts The rest. 269. crusheth] Qq 1-4, crushes The rest.

272. stand] Qq 1-4, stands The rest ; on] an Qq 12, 13. 274. send] lend

Lintott and Gildon. 275. scornfully glisters] glisters scornfully Sewell ; like]
like the Q 10. 276. hot . . . high] high . . . hot Anon. conj. 277. Sovie-
time] Qq 1-3, Sometimes The rest.

267. bearing] Cf. 1 Henry IV. v. circular, orbicular, compassing about,

iv. 92 : in a ring." The mane may have been

" this earth that bears thee arched by clipping. See Topsel, Four-

dead footed Beasts, p. 222 : " Some again cut

Bears not alive so stout a it to stand compass like a bow." stand]

gentleman. " stands (Qq S-lo) is a needless alteration :

For "wound" see Richard I J. III. ii. the idea of " mane" is plural.

7: "Though rebels wound thee with 2^^. glisters] "Glitters" does not

their horses' hoofs." occur in Shakespeare, though "glitter-

\ 272. compass'd] "arch'd. A com- ing" is more common than "glistering."

pass'd ceiling is a phrase still in use" 277. told] counted. See Love's

(Malone). Steevens compares Troilus Labour's Lost, I. ii. /\.i : "How many is

and Cressida, I. ii. 120 : "She came to one thrice told ? — I am ill at reckoning " ;

him th' other day into the compass'd All's Well, II. i. 169 :

window," i.e. the baai window. Min- "the pilot's glass

sheu has "a Corapasse circle or circuit," Hath told the thievish minutes

and "a Compasse, an instrument so how they pass";

called, because it serves to make a Timon, in. \. 107: " While they have

round circle or compasse about"; and told their money."
Cotgrave, "Circulaire: com. Round,

VENUS AND ADONIS 19

And this 1 do to captivate the eye

Of the fair breeder that is standing by."

What recketh he his rider's angry stir,

His flattering " Holla " or his " Stand, I say " ?

What cares he now for curb or pricking spur? 285

For rich caparisons or trappings gay?

He sees his love, and nothing else he sees,
For nothing else with his proud sight agrees.

Look, when a painter would surpass the life,

In limning out a well proportion'd steed, 290

His art with nature's workmanship at strife,

As if the dead the living should exceed ;
So did this horse excel a common one
In shape, in courage, colour, pace and bone.

Round-hoofd, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long, 295
Broad breast, full eye, small head and nostril wide,
High crest, short ears, straight legs and passing strong.
Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide:
Look, what a horse should have he did not lack.
Save a proud rider on so proud a back. 300

281. this] Qq 1-3, thus The rest. 290. limmng] Lintott and Gildon,

limming Clq. 293. thisl his Qt^g, 11, 13; a] each 'Kinneax con]. 296. eye\
Qq 1-3, eie Q 4, eyes The rest.

281. this] Perhaps the meaning is had most curiously limbed forth a Horses
"thus," which was read by the later perfection, and failed in no part of nature
Quartos. See note on 1. 205. or art, but only in placing hairs under

282. breeder] iemeXt; cf. "breeding his eye, for that only fault he received a
jennet," 1. 260; and 3 Henry VI. n. disgraceful blame."

i. 42, where it is contrasted with 295-298. Round-hoofd . . . hide] Of

" male." these fourteen points, Topsel in his

283. j;«V] excitement ; cf. Two Gentle- several descriptions of the colt, horse,
men of Verona, v. iv. 13: "What and stallion explicitly names ten. He
halloing and what stir is this to-day ? " ; differs in regard to the mane. See
and 1 Henry VI. i. iv. 98: "What especially his summary (Four-footed
stir is this? what tumult's in the Beasts, p. 233): "his buttocks round,
heavens ? " Prof. Case compares his breast broad ... a little and dry
Cymbeline, I. iii. 12: "the fits and head . . . short and pricked ears, great
stirs of's mind." eyes, broad nostrils, a long and large

284. Holla] Malone supposes this mane and tail, with a solid and fixed
formerly a term of the manege, com- rotundity of his hoofs"; while "the
paring As You Like It, m. ii. 257 : faults and signes of reprobation in
" Cry ' holla ' to thy tongue, I prithee : horses" are (p. 232): "a great and
it curvets unseasonably." fleshy head, great ears, narrow nostrils,

285. curb . . . jr/a?'] Virgil's "frena hollow eyes, ... a mane not hairy, a
virum neque verbera sseva " ( Georgics, narrow breast, . . . not strong, crooked
iii. 1. 252). legs, thin, full fleshy, plain and low

290. limning] painting; cf. Topsel, hoofs."
Four-footed Beasts, p. 222: " Nicon, 2^$. fetlocks shag and long]SoTo^se:\
that famous painter of Greece, when he (p. 222): "Therefore it is never good

20

SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Sometime he scuds far off, and there he stares ;

Anon he starts at stirring of a feather ;

To bid the wind a base he now prepares,

And where he run or fly they know not whether;

For through his mane and tail the high wind sings, 305
Fanning the hairs, who wave like feather'd wings.

He looks upon his love and neighs unto her;
She answers him, as if she knew his mind :
Being proud, as females are, to see him woo her,
She puts on outward strangeness, seems unkind, 310

Spurns at his love and scorns the heat he feels,
Beating his kind embracements with her heels.

Then, like a melancholy malcontent.

He vails his tail, that, li)ie a falling plume,

301. Sometime] Sometimes Qq 8, 9, 11, 13. 302. starts] stares Qq 9-13.

303. a base] abase Q 10. 304. And where] Qq, And wMr Malone (1780),

And whir Malone (1790: Capell MS.), And whether Cambridge; whether]
■whither Sewell. 306. who wave] which wave Q 9, who have Lintott, which
heave Gildon. 314. vails] vales Qq 5, 7-9, veils Sewell.

to cut the mane or the fetter-locks,
except necessity require, for the mane
and fore-top is an ornament to the neck
and head, and the fetter-locks to the
legs and feet."

For "shag," which means rough and
hairy, cf. S Henry VI. III. i. 367 :
" Like a shag-hair'd crafty kern," a
reference to the Irish glib ; and Lyly,
Sapho and Phao, iv. iv. ^3 : " My
shag-haire Cyclops," the quality of
whose hair is shown in Ovid, Metamor-
phoses, xiii. 765, 766: "Jam rigidos
pectis rastris, Polypheme, capillos. Jam
libet hirsutam tibi falce recidere bar-
bam " : it was raked and reaped. See
also Eng. Dialect Diet, sub voc.

303. ?ai«] "Also Prisoner's base
... A popular game among boys ; it
is played by two sides, who occupy
contiguous ' bases ' or ' homes ' ; any
player running out from his 'base' is
chased by one of the opposite side, and,
if caught, made a prisoner . . . to bid
base : to challenge to a chase in this
game ; gen. to challenge " {New Eng.
Diet. ) . See also Prof. Dowden's note on
Cymbeline, v. iii. 20, in this edition.

304. where] whether, which some
edd., including Cambridge, read here.
Compare the readings of F i in Tempest y
V. i. 1 1 1 : " Where thou bee'st he or
no " ; and Comedy oj Errors, IV. i. 60 :
" Good sir, say, whe'r you '1 answer me

or no." Prof Case compares Jonson,
Epigrammes, To lohn Donne (No.
xcvi., 1616 fol. p. 797): "Who shall
doubt, Donne, where I a Poet be, When
I dare send my Epigrammes to thee ? "
whether] which of the two. Prof.
Case compares Spenser, Faerie Queene,
I. 11. xxxvii. 4 :

"One day in doubt I cast for to
compare,
Whether in beauties glorie did
exceede."

306. who] which, as in Winter's
Tale, IV. iv. 581 : " Nothing so certain
as your anchors, who Do their best
office, if they can but stay you."

310. outward strangeness] a show of
aversion or coldness ; cf. Greene's
Carde of Fancie (Grosart, iv. 122) :
" my straightnes in words was no
strangnes in minde, my bitter speeches
were written with my hand, not wrought
with my heart " ; and Lyly, Euphues
(Bond, i. 200): "The Gentlewoman
. . . gave him such a cold welcome
that he repented that he was come . . .
he uttred this speach ' Faire Ladye, if
it be the guise of Italy to welcome
straungers with strangnes, I must needs
say the custome is strange and the
countrey barbarous.' "

314. offli'/r] lowers. Minsheu has " to
Vaile, i. to put, cast, let fall, or fell
downe."

VENUS AND ADONIS 21

Cool shadow to his melting buttock lent: 3^5

He stamps, and bites the poor flies in his fume.
His love, perceiving how he was enraged,
Grew kinder, and his fury was assuaged.

His testy master goeth about to take him ;

When, lo, the unback'd breeder, full of fear, 320

Jealous of catching, swiftly doth forsake him,

With her the horse, and left Adonis there:

As they were mad, unto the wood they hie them.
Out-stripping crows that strive to over-fly them.

All swoln with chafing, down Adonis sits, 325

Banning his boisterous and unruly beast:

And now the happy season once more fits,

That love-sick Love by pleading may be blest;
For lovers say, the heart hath treble wrong
When it is barr'd the aidance of the tongue. 330

An oven that is stopp'd, or river stay'd,

Burneth more hotly, swelleth with more rage:

So of concealed sorrow may be said;

Free vent of words love's fire doth assuage ;

But when the heart's attorney once is mute, 335

The client breaks, as desperate in his suit.

315. buttock'] buttocke Qq 1-3, buttocks The rest. 317. was\ Qq I, 2, is
The rest. 319. goetK\ Qq 1-4, goes The rest. 325. chafing] chasing Qq 4,
5> 7) lo- 334- dotK] doth oft ^e.fi€iS..

316. fume] rage ; cf. ;? Henry VI. 331. An oven . . .] Perhaps sug-
I. iii. 153 : gested by Lyiy, Euphues (Bond, i.

"her fume needs no spurs, 210): "Well, well, seeing the wound

She '11 gallop far enough to her that bleedeth inwarde is most daunger-

destruction." ous, that the fire kepte close burneth

319. goeth about] attempts; cf. Lyly most furious, that the Ooven dammed

(ed. Bond, ii. 26) : " But why go I about up baketh soonest, that sores having no

to disswade thee from that, which I my vent fester inwardly, it is high time to

self followed . . . Thou goest about a unfolde my secret love to my secrete

great matter, neither fit for thy yeares, friende." See also Spenser, Faerie

being very young, nor thy profit, being Queene, I. ii. 34: "He oft finds

left so poore " ; ibid. p. 224 : "the med'cine who his griefe imparts, But

oftener they goe about by force to rule double griefs afHict concealing harts,

them [young wives], the more froward As raging flames who striveth to

they finde them." suppresse."

326. Banning] cursing ; cf. Lyly, 333. concealed sorrow] See Macbeth,

Sapho and Fhao, IV. ii. 30: "wowe IV. iii. 209 : " Give sorrow words ; the

with kisses, ban with curses " ; Mother grief that does not speak Whispers the

Bombie, II. ii. 21 : " Well, be as bee o'er-fraught heart and bids it break."
may is no banning " ; Maydes Meta- 335. heart's attorney] 'Lyly (ed.

morphosis, II. i. 109: "set them so at Bond, ii. 167) calls the tongue "the

ods Till to their teeth they curse, and ambassador of the heart." Prof. Case

ban the Gods." notes the legal references here.

22 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

He sees her coming, and begins to glow,

Even as a dying coal revives with wind.

And with his bonnet hides his angry brow,

Looks on the dull earth with disturbed mind, 340

Taking no notice that she is so nigh,
For all askance he holds her in his eye.

O, what a sight it was, wistly to view

How she came stealing to the wayward boy!

To note the fighting conflict of her hue, 34S

How white and red each other did destroy !

But now her cheek was pale, and by and by
It flash'd forth fire, as lightning from the sky.

Now was she just before him as he sat.

And like a lowly lover down she kneels ; 350

With one fair hand she heaveth up his hat,

Her other tender hand his fair cheek feels :

His tenderer cheek receives her soft hand's print,
As apt as new-fall'n snow takes any dint.

O, what a war of looks was then between them! 355

Her eyes petitioners to his eyes suing;

His eyes saw her eyes as they had not seen them ;

Her eyes woo'd still, his eyes disdain'd the wooing:
And all this dumb play had his acts made plain
With tears, which chorus-like her eyes did rain. 360

345. hue] Gildon, hew Qq 1-7, 10, kieiv The rest, 348. as] and Qq 6, 8,
9, 11-13. 350. lowly] slowly Q 4. 352. cheek] cheeke Qq 1-4, cheekes

The rest. 353. tenderer] tendrer Q i, tender The rest ; cheek receives] cheeke,
receiues Qq 1-3, cheeks (or cheekes) reuiues Qq 4, 5, 7, 10, cheeks (or cheekes)
receiue Qq 6, 8, 9, 11-13. 358. woo'd] wood Qq 5, 7.

339. bonnet] cap or hat, as often. 359, 360. dumb flay . . . acts . . .

Schmidt notes that ' ' hat " is the word chorus-like] From this passage Malone

used in 1. 351. inferred that the poem was not written

342. For . . . eye] Watches her till Shakespeare " had left Stratford and
sidewise, sees without looking at her. became acquainted with the theatre."
Perhaps there is, as often, a suggestion This is probable, but as Malone knew
of mistrust. See New Eng. Diet. {Variorum, 1 821, vol. ii. p. 149), the

343. wistly to view] to see clearly : players had visited Stratford |so early
wistly often means no more than steadily, as 1 569. For dumb shows, see Lo-
ll is usually explained to mean ' ' wist- crine and Gorbuduc ; the latter has
fully," but see note on Passionate also a chorus. See also Introduction
Pilgrim, vi. 11. on Barnfield's imitation of this pas-

351. heaveth] The word does not sage,
imply any effort ; of. Middleton, A 359. his] i.e. its, which does not

Chaste Maid in Cheapside (Wks. ed. occur in the English Bible (1611), and

BuUen, v. p. 94), v. i. 16 : " Look up, is rarer in Shakespeare than is generally

an 't like your worship ; heave those supposed, e.g. in Romeo and Juliet, I.

eyes" ; and Lyly, Sapho and Phao, iv. iii. 52, F 1 reads "it."
iii. 87 : " with the heaving up of myne 360. WitK] = by.
arm I waked."

VENUS AND ADONIS 23

Full gently now she takes him by the hand,

A lily prison'd in a gaol of snow,

Or ivory in an alabaster band ;

So white a friend engirts so white a foe :

This beauteous combat, wilful and unwilling, 365

Show'd like two silver doves that sit 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 ; 370
For one sweet look thy help I would assure thee,
Though nothing but my body's bane would cure thee."

" Give me my hand," saith he ; '' why dost thou feel it ? "
" Give me my heart," saith she, " and thou shalt have

it;
O, give it me, lest thy hard heart do steel it, 375

And being steel'd, soft sighs can never grave it:
Then love's deep groans I never shall regard,
Because Adonis' heart hath made mine hard."

" For shame," he cries, " let go, and let me go ;

My day's delight is past, my horse is gone, 380

And 'tis your fault I am bereft him so :

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."

363. alabaster] Qq 8-13, allablasier (or alablaster) The rest. 366. two\ Qq
1-3, 5, 6, to The rest. 371. thy\ my Qq 8, 9, 11, 13. 373, 374. saith
. . . saithl said , , . said Q 10. 374. myl thy Gildon. 384. froni] for
Q 10.

364. engirtsi clasps : gyrt and girt 372. bane\ destruction, death ; cf.
are the readings of F I in i Henry VI. Mamillia (Grosart's Greene, ii. 176) ;
III. i. 171, 2xAS Henry VI. i. i. 65. "O infortunate Pharicles hath the

367. engine] Cf. Titus Andronicus, dolorous destinies decreed thy destruc-

III. i. 82 : " O, that delightful engine tion, or the perverse planets in thy

of her thoughts, That blabbed them nativity conspired thy bitter bane ? "

\suth such pleasing eloquence, Is torn In Macbeth, v. iii. 60, ' ' death and bane "

from forth that pretty hollow cage." seem to be synonyms. See also Turber-

370. thy heart my wound] Stronger vile, Booke of Hunting, p. 137 : "they
than "thy heart wounded as mine." may be taught to bring The harmelesse
For the hyperbole, cf. Tempest, v. i. Hart unto his bane," said of hun-
286 : " I am not Stephano, but a ters.

cramp." 376. grave] " To impress deeply, to

371. help] cure, as in Comedy of fix indelibly" — New Eng. Diet., Wdvih
Errors, v. i. 160. As a verb it is quotes Gower, Confessio Amantis, 1.
similarly used in The Tempest, II. ii. 60: "Min hert is growen into stone
97, and in Two Gentlemen of Verona, So that my lady there upon Hath such
IV. ii. 47. a print of love grave That ..."

24 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Thus she replies: "Thy palfrey, as he should, 385

Welcomes the warm approach of sweet desire :
Affection is a coal that must be cool'd ;
Else, suffer'd, it will set the heart on fire:

The sea hath bounds, but deep desire hath none ;

Therefore no marvel though thy horse be gone. 390

" How like a jade he stood, tied to the tree,

Servilely master'd with a leathern rein !

But when he saw his love, his youth's fair fee,

He held such petty bondage in disdain ;

Throwing the base thong from his bending crest, 395
Enfranchising his mouth, his back, his breast.

" Who sees his true-love in her naked bed.

Teaching the sheets a whiter hue than white.

But, when his glutton eye so full hath fed,

His other agents aim at like delight? 400

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

385. he] she Qq 6, 8, 9, 11-13. 391. tke\ Qq 1-4, a The rest. 392. rein]
reine Qq 1 1- 1 3, raine The rest, reign Gildon. 397. sees\ seekes Qq 2-4.

401. is so] so is Q 10 ; dares] dare Qq 12, 13.

388. suffer'd] allowed to burn, as in And hath not been enchanted

S Henry VI. IV. viii. 8 : " A little fire with the sight . . .

is quickly trodden out ; Which, being Crown him with laurel for his

suffer'd, rivers cannot quench." Simi- victory.''

larly in 2 Henry VI. in. ii. 262, it In the phrase " naked bed," Mr. Wynd-

means "allowed to sleep": "It were ham finds an echo of TS-yA's Jeroni)no,

but necessary you were waked, Lest, 11. v. i : " what out-cries pluck me

being suffered in that harmful slumber, from my naked bed " ; but it was com-

The mortal worm might make the sleep mon enough not to suggest a situation

eternal." which the 'Elizabethan pubhc found

393. /»«] reward ; cf. Richard III. 1. humorous. See Edwardes's song begin-

ii. 170: "But now thy beauty is pro- ning : " When going to my naked bed

posed my fee, My proud heart sues." as one that would have slept." The

In 1. 6og, the word bears its legal sense, expression may have arisen from a

Prof. Case questions whether it may not practice already obolescent. See Armin,

here be used in the sense of " any Nesi of Nimiies (Shaks. Soc. p. 24) :

allotted portion" [i.e. here, the fair " To bed he goes ; and Jemy ever used

possession that was his by right of to lie naked, as is the use of a number,

youth), for which New Eng. Diet, amongst which number she knew that

quotes Tusser and others, including Jemy was one ; who no sooner was in

George Herbert, The Discharge, 1. 21 : bed, but shee herself knocked at the

" only the present is thy part and fee. " doore . . . under [the bed] heecreepes,

397. Who sees . . . bed]. Cf. Praise stark naked, where he was stung with

of Chastity, from The Fhanix' Nest nettles." See also Hazlitt's Early

(1593 : Peele, ed. Bullen, ii. p. 363) : Popular Poetry, vol. ii. p. 48, Sqyr of

"Who hath beheld fair Venus in Lowe Degre, 1.673; and vol. iii. p. 51,

her pride Taleof the Basyn,-x.vx.., sixi. "Naked,"

Of nakedness, all alabaster white, however, often meant only ' ' unarmed "

In ivory bed, straight laid by or " lightly clad. "

Mars his side,

VENUS AND ADONIS 25

"Let me excuse thy courser, gentle boy;

And learn of him, I heartily beseech thee,

To take advantage on presented joy; 405

Though I were dumb, yet his proceedings teach thee:
O, learn to love; the lesson is but plain.
And once made perfect, never lost again."

" I know notj ove," quoth he, " Qor jmllnoMihow it,
TTnless^fH^e^ h9a.r,-and then_T cEaieTTr ^^liy\ 4IO,
'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
breath.

"Who wears a garment shapeless and unfinish'd? 415

Who plucks the bud before one leaf put forth?

If springing things be any jot diminish'd,

They wither in their prime, prove nothing worth:

The colt that's back'd and burthen'd being young
Loseth his pride, and never waxeth strong. 420

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

Dismiss your vows, your feigned tears, your flattery; 425
For where a heart is hard they make no battery."

409. will not} will I Lintott and Gildon. 413. in\ of Q 10. 414. with}
in Sewell. 424. alarms] allarmes (or alarmes) Qq 1-3, alarum Q 4, alarms
The rest.

405. on\ Usually "of" is found, as together"; and "Estreinct ... strayned,

now, but " having some advantage on " wrung, squeezed, gripped fast"; cf.

occurs ia Julius Casar, v. iii. 6; and GvSifiv^^Skialetheia, Ep. 38 (Reprint,

"gain Advantage on" in Sonnet Ixiv. p. 14): " He's a fine fellow . , . Who

6. piertly jets, can caper, daunce and sing,

412. My . . . it] My only desire Play with his mistris fingers, her hand

with respect to love is a desire to bring wring." Malone quotes ShephearcCs

discredit on it. Song of Venus and Adonis [see on 1.

416. bud\Q,l. The Shepheard' s Song of 416 above]: "Thou wringest me too

Venus and Adonis [H. C(onstable) in hard."

England's Helicon, 1600} : "Tender are 424. o/aj-OTj] onsets, attacks,

my years, I am yet a bud " (Malone). 426. battery} almost "forcible en-

421. with wringing} by pressing it; trance." See 3 Henry VI. in. i. 37:

cf. 1. 475. The word now suggests a "Her sighs will make a battery in his

wrench or twist, but in Shakespeare's breast"; and Tullies Love (Grosart's

time a tight boot could be said to wring Greene, vii. p. 175): "hoping the

the foot. See Cotgrave, ' ' Estreindre. consideration of his martirdome will at

To wring, strain, squeeze ; to straiten, length make battery into the bulwarke

restraine, presse hard, thrust up close of your breast."

26 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

" What ! canst thou talk ? " quoth she, " hast thou a tongue ?

O, would thou hadst not, or I had no hearing!

Thy mermaid's voice hath done me double wrong;

I had my load before, now press'd with bearing: 430

Melodious discord, heavenly tune harsh-sounding.
Ear's deep-sweet music, and heart's deep-sore 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 435

Each part in me that were but sensible:

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

" Say, that the sense of feeling were bereft me,
And that I could not see, nor hear, nor touch, 440

And nothing but the very smell were left me.
Yet would my love to thee be still as much ;
For from the stillitory of thy face excelling
Comes breath perfum'd, that breedeth love by smell-
ing.

" But, O, what banquet wert thou to the taste, 445

Being nurse and feeder of the other four !

Would they not wish the feast might ever last.

And bid Suspicion double-lock the door,

Lest Jealousy, that sour unwelcome guest,

Should by his stealing in disturb the feast?" 450

432. Ear's'] Eares Qq 1-3, Earths The rest ; deep-sweet . . . deep-sore']
hyphened by Malone. 434. invisible'] invincible Steevens conj. 436. in

me] of me Gildon. 439. feeling] Qq 1-4, reason The rest. 447. might]

Qq I, 2, should The rest. 448. double-lock] hyphened by Sewell.

429. viermaid's voice] For this see feeling " (I. 439) ; of. A Woman is u
Midsummer-Nighf s Dream, II. i. 150- W?a?^«rforf (Hazlitt's Dodsley, xi. 15):
154. Prof. Case compares I. IT] post. " For I did look on her, indeed no eye

430. press'd] oppressed, crushed ; cf. That ow'd a sensible member, but must
1. 545, and ira?-, IV. iii. 28 : " Once or dwell A while on such an object."
twice she heaved the name of 'father' Contrast "senseless," 1. 211.
Pantingly forth as if it press'd her 443. stillitory] apparatus used for
heart"; and Othello, III. iv. 177: "I distilling. Minsheu has " Stillatorie.
have this while with leaden thoughts T. Distillatorium ... a stillando,
been press'd." The load was his in- stillatim & guttatim essentias purificat.
difference, the last straw his refusal (11. Vi. Limbecke"; and Cotgrave : "Al-
409-426). embic ; m. a Limbeck or Stillitorie."

431. Melodious discord] The oxy- 443. e;irir^//m^] exquisite ; so "which
moron sums up 1. 429, and is explained fairly doth excel " in Sonnet v. 1. 4
by 1. 432. means, which is of exquisite beauty.

436. sensible] capable of receiving 446. four] sc. senses,
impressions, having "the sense of

VENUS AND ADONIS 27

Once more the ruby-colour'd portal open'd,

Which to his speech did honey passage yield;

Like a red morn, that ever yet betoken'd

Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field,

Sorrow to shepherds, woe unto the birds, 455

Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds.

This ill presage advisedly she marketh:
Even as the wind is hush'd before it raineth.
Or as the wolf doth grin before he barketh, ,
Or as the berry breaks before it stain eth, —j 460

Or like the deadly bullet of a gun, \

His meaning struck her ere his words begun. \

And at his look she flatly falleth down, ' ,

For looks kill love, and love by looks reviveth : ^ «t- !
A smile recures the wounding of a frown ; ', 465

But blessed bankrupt, that by love so thriveth ! \ f/pV-'-'

The silly boy, believing she is dead, J

Claps her pale cheek, till clapping makes it red ;

And all amaz'd brake off his late intent,
For sharply he did think to reprehend her, 470

Which cunning love did wittily prevent :
Fair fall the wit that can so well defend her!
Tor on the grass she lies as she were slain.
Till his breath breatheth life in her again.

454. Wreck'] Wrack Qq 9, 10, Wracks The rest ; seaman} sea-men Q 10.
455. shepherds'] the shepheards Q 4. 456. Gusts] Qq 1-4, Grist The rest.

460. staineth] straineth Q 4, staine Q 10. 464. kilt] kits Q 4. 466. bank-
rupt] bankrout Qq 1-4, banckroui Qq 12, 13, banquerout The rest ; love] loss
Hudson (188 1 : S. Walker conj.), /oo/Jj- Kinnear conj. 469. a// a?«az'rf] Qq 1-3,
all amazed Cambridge, all in a maze Q 4, in amaze Q 10, in a maze The rest,
all-amazed Boswell. 474. breatheth] breathed Q 10.

456. flaws] blasts ; cf . The Trita- 459. doth grin] shows its teeth, used
meron of Love (GrQsa.Yt's Greene, Hi. p. of curs, B Henry VI. III. i. 18; and
84) : " 'Tis an ill flaw that bringeth up 3 Henry VI. i. iv. 56 ; cf. Cytnbeline,
nowracke, i.e. sea-weed,'andabadwinde v. iii. 38 : "to grin like lions Upon the
that breedeth no man's profit" ; Fare- pikes o' the hunters."

well to Follie, ibid. ix. p. 274; "Is 465. recures]hea\s; cf.'LyXy, Woman

youth the wealth of nature to be wracked in the Moone, 11. i. 21 : "And this my

[wrecked] with every flaw ? " ; Armin, hand that hurt thy tender side Shall first

A Nest of Ninnies (Shaks. Soc. p. 18) : with herbes recure the wound it made."

" a sodaine flaw or gust rose ; the winds 466. love] S. Walker's conjecture

held strong east and by west, and the " loss," read by Hudson, gives a good

ship was in great danger. " sense : Venus is as fortunate in being

457. advisedly] deliberately, thought- recalled to life by looks when looks had
fully; cf. Lucrece, 1. 1527: "This slain her, as a bankrupt restored to
picture she advisedly perused, And chid prosperity by his losses.

the painter for his wondrous skill." 472. Fair fall] good luck to.

28 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

He wrings her nose, he strikes her on the cheeks, 475

He bends her fingers, holds her pulses hard.
He chafes her lips; a thousand ways he seeks
To mend the hurt that his unkindness marr'd :
He kisses her; and she, by her good will,
Will never rise, so he will kiss her still. 480

The night of sorrow now is turn'd to day:
Her two blue windows faintly she up-heaveth,
Like the fair sun, when in his fresh array
He cheers the morn, and all the earth relieveth :

And as the bright sun glorifies the sky, 485

So is her face illumin'd with her eye ;

Whose beams upon his hairless face are fix'd,

As if from thence they borrow'd all their shine.

Were never four such lamps together mix'd.

Had not his clouded with his brow's repine; 490

But hers, which through the crystal tears gave
light,

Shone like the moon in water seen by night.

" O, where am I ? " quoth she ; " in earth or heaven.

Or in the ocean drench'd, or in the fire?

What hour is this? or morn or weary even? 495

480. fVi/l] Would GMon. 484. eartli] Q i, world Th.e kA.

475. wrings] See note on I. 421. other hand, window is eye in Love's

478. To . . . marr'd] A mixture of Labour's Lost, v. ii, 848 : " Behold the
two phrases: ( I ) to mend the hurt that his window of my heart, mine eye." For
unkindness caused, and (2) to mend "blue" meaning " blue - veined " see
what was marred by his unidndness, z'.e. Lucrece, 1. 407, yet one is inclined
to restore her consciousness or colour. to misquote — " I have seen a lady's

479. by her good will] willingly ; cf. nose that has been blue but not her
"with our good will," Midsummer- eye-lids."

Nighfs Dream, v. i. 108. 482. up-heaveth] See note on 1.

482. blue windows] Possibly blue- 351.

veined eyelids. Malone, though he 490. repine] discontent. New Eng.

quotes the line elsewhere in support of Diet, cites Holland, Livy, 96 : " Not

his opinion that grey and blue were . . . iterating still his praises for feare

synonyms, compares here Antony and of heaping more matter of envie and

Cleopatra, N. '■a.. ■},\<); " Downy windows repine."

close And golden Phoebus never be 494. drench'd] drowned ; cf. Two

beheld Of eyes again so royal " ; where Gentlemen oj Verona, I. iii. 79 : " Thus

see note in this edition. Steevens cites have I shunned the fire for fear of

Cymbeline, il. ii. 22 : " the flame o' burning And drench'd me in the sea

the taper Bows toward her and would where I am drown'd " ; and liomeus and

underpeep her lids. To see the enclosed Juliet (Hazlitt's Shaks. Lib. p. 135) :

lights, now canopied Under these "The ship rents on the rocke, or

windows white and azure laced With sinketh in the deepe. And eke the

blue of heaven's own tinct." On the coward drenched is."

VENUS AND ADONIS

29

Do I delight to die, or life desire?

But now I liv'd, and life was death's annoy ;
But now I died, and death was lively joy.

" O, thou didst kill me : kill me once again :
Thy eyes' shrewd tutor, that hard heart of thine,
Hath taught them scornful tricks, and such disdain,
That they have murder'd this poor heart of mine;
And these mine eyes, true leaders to their queen,
But for thy piteous lips no more had seen.

SOO

" Long may they kiss each other, for this cure !

O, never let their crimson liveries wear !

And as they last, their verdure still endure.

To drive infection from the dangerous year!
That the star-gazers, having writ on death,
May say, the plague is banish'd by thy breath.

SOS

Sio

500. Thy] The Q 4. 501. Hath] Have Gildon, Has Sewell. 503. mine]
my Q 10, 506. never] neither Q 4 ; liiieries] liberie Q lo. 507. verdure]

verdour Qq 1-3, virtue Staunton conj.

497, 498. But . . , joy] Life was as
bitter as death when Adonis was un-
kind ; her death-like swoon was as
joyful as life when he was seeking " to
mend the hurt." "Annoy" had a
stronger meaning than now. See Richard
III. V. iii. 156: "Good angels guard
thee from the boar's annoy." ' ' Lively "
is life-like or living. See Titus An-
dronicus, III. i. 105-. "Had I but
seen thy picture in this plight, It
would have madded me : what shall
I do Now I behold thy lively body
so?"

505. kiss each other] The same fancy
is found in J. Sylvester, The Woodmans
Bear{IVhs., 1621 ed., p. 1205): "Those
smooth smiling louely lips Which each
other alwaies kist " ; and in Sidney,
Astrophel and Stella, xliii. : "With
either lip he doth the other kiss.''

506. liveries] Livery is used of the
complexion in Merchant of Venice, II.
i. 2 ; and of white hair in 2 Henry VI.
V. ii. 47.

507. verdure] freshness, vigour ;
always used metaphorically by Shake-
speare. See Tempest, l. ii. 87 : "he
was The ivy that had hid my princely
trunk And suck'd my verdure out on 't " ;
and Two Gentlemen of Verona, I. i. 49 :
"the young and tender wit Is turn'd
to folly - . . Losing his verdure even

in the prime." So "green" means
vigorous in Sonnets, civ. 8 : " Since
first I saw you fresh, which yet are
green." There is no doubt also an
allusion to the practice in plague-time,
noted by Malone, of strewing " the
rooms of every house with rue and
other strong smelling herbs, to prevent
infection."

509. having . . , death] Perhaps in
an almanac or broad-sheet ; a similar
expression is used of different circum-
stances in Sonnets, cvii. 6 : " the sad
augurs mock their own presage."

510. the plague] Mr. Wyndham
writes: "In 1592 . . . the theatres were
closed on account of the Plague from
July to December, and the Michaelmas
term was kept at Hertford (Stow, p.
765 [766 in Howes' edition, 1631], cited
by Fleay, History of the Stage, p. 94).
It is probable, therefore, that Shake-
speare wrote the poem during the en-
forced idleness of the second half of the
year 1592." See Dr. Brindsley Sheri-
dan's quotation from Stow, New Shaks.
Soc. i. 3. The closing of the theatres
was due to riots rather than to the
Plague, which began somewhat later,
and was most severe in 1593, when,
according to Stow, there were 10,675
deaths. See Greg, Henslowe's Diary,
pt. ii. p. 50 seqq.

30 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

" Pure lips, sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted,
What bargains may I make, still to be sealing?
To sell myself I can be well contented,
So thou wilt buy, and pay, and use good dealing;

Which purchase if thou make, for fear of slips, 515
Set thy seal-manual on my wax-red lips.

" A thousand kisses buys my heart from me ;

And pay them at thy leisure, one by one.

What is ten hundred touches unto thee?

Are they not quickly told and quickly gone? 520

Say, for non-payment that the debt should double.
Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble ? "

" Fair queen," quoth he, " if any love you owe me,
Measure my strangeness with my unripe years:
Before I know myself, seek not to know me; 525

No fisher but the ungrown fry forbears:

The mellow plum doth fall, the green sticks fast.

Or being early pluck'd is sour to taste.

" Look, the world's comforter, with weary gait.

His day's hot task hath ended in the west; 530

The owl, night's herald, shrieks, 'tis very late ;

The sheep are gone to fold, birds to their nest ;

And coal-black clouds that shadow heaven's light
Do summon us to part, and bid good night.

511. sweet seals . . . soft lips'] soft scales . . . sweet lips Q^ 10. i,l(>. seal-
manual] hyphened by Malone. 519. touches] Qq 1-4, kisses The rest. 522.
hundred] thousand Q^a^'i^ 6,. ^2i,. my unripe] mine unripe Clio. 533. And]
Qq 1-3, The The rest.

511. jea&] Malone cites Measure for common people call slips"; and ibid.

Measure, IV. i. 6: "But my kisses p. 262 : " a slip, a counterfeit coin. "
bring again, bring again, Seals of love 520. told] counted j cf. 1. 277.
but seal'd in vain, seal'd in vain." See 521. double] " The poet was thinking

also Two Gentlemen of Verona, II. ii. of a conditional bond's becoming for-

7; Midsummer-Nighfs Dream, III. felted for non-payment; in which case,

ii. 144; Taming of the Shrew, in. ii. the entire penalty (usually the double

125. of the principal sum lent by the obligee)

515. slips] There may perhaps be a was formerly recoverable at law"

reference, as Steevens thought, to the (Malone).

sense "counterfeit money." He cites 524. f^nzw^dwisjj] shyness or coldness ;

Romeo and Juliet, 11. iv. 51 : "What cf. 1. 310.

counterfeit did I give you? — The 529- comforter] Malone compares

slip, sir, the slip." See also Lyly, Timon of Athens, v. i. 134: "Thou

Mother Bombie, 11. i. -. "I shall go sun, that comfort'st, burn." Cf.

for silver though, when you shall be "comfortable beams," Lear, II. ii.

nailed up for slips " ; Grosart's Greene, 171.

A. 260: "he went and got him a 531. shrieks] Cf. Macbeth, 11. ii. 3;

certaine slips, which are counterfeit " It was the owl that shriek'd, the

peeces of mony being brasse & fatal bellman. Which gives the stern'st

covered over with silver, which the good-night."

VENUS AND ADONIS 31

"Now let me say 'Good night,' and so say you; 535

If you will say so, you shall have a kiss."
" Good night," quoth she ; and, ere he says " Adieu,"
The honey fee of parting tender'd is :

Her arms do lend his neck a sweet embrace ;

Incorporate then they seem ; face grows to face. 54°

Till breathless he disjoin'd, and backward drew
The heavenly moisture, that sweet coral mouth.
Whose precious taste her thirsty lips well knew,
Whereon they surfeit, yet complain on drouth:

He with her plenty press'd, she faint with dearth, 545
Their lips together glued, fall to the earth.

Now quick desire hath caught the yielding prey,

And glutton-like she feeds, yet never filleth;

Her lips are conquerors, his lips obey.

Paying what ransom the insulter willeth; 5 50

Whose vulture thought doth pitch the price so high.
That she will draw his lips' rich treasure dry.

And having felt the sweetness of the spoil.

With blindfold fury she begins to forage ;

Her face doth reek and smoke, her blood doth boil, 555

And careless lust stirs up a desperate courage,
Planting oblivion, beating reason back.
Forgetting shame's pure blush and honour's wrack.

Hot, faint and weary, with her hard embracing.
Like a wild bird being tam'd with too much handling, 560
Or as the fleet-foot roe that's tir'd with chasing,
Or like the froward infant still'd with dandling.
He now obeys, and now no more resisteth,
While she takes all she can, not all she listeth.

537. quoth she\ quoth hee Q 10 ; ere ke\ ere she Q 10. S38. tender'd] rendred
Q 10. 544. drouth] drought Malone. 546. fait] fell Q 10. 547. the]

Qq 1-3, his Q 4, her The rest. 552. That she] That he Q 10. 553. felf]
found Q 10. 560. with] by Qq 7, 10.

540. grows to] Steevens compares mild humility " ; and Henry V. v. ii.

Henry VIll. I. i. 10: "how they 381: "Plant neighbourhood and

clung In their embracements, as they Christian - like accord In their sweet

grew together"; and Malone, All 's Well bosoms " ; and for "oblivion," Hamlet,

that Ends IVell, u. i. 36 : "I grow to IV. iv. 40, where Hamlet questions

you and our parting is a tortured body." whether it is " Bestial oblivion or some

i4$. press'd] See 1. 430. craven scruple" that prevents his doing

557- J^lantingodlivion]cs,nsing forget- what he conceives to be his duty,
fulness of all that he ought to remember. 558. wrach] destruction, still found

For "plant" cf. Love's Labour's Lost, in the phrase "wrack and ruin," and

IV. iii. 349: "And plant in tyrants the usual Elizabethan form of "wreck."

32 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

What wax so frozen but dissolves with temp'ring, 565

And yields at last to every light impression?
Things out of hope are compass'd oft with vent'ring,
Chiefly in love, whose leave exceeds commission:
Affection faints not like a pale-fac'd coward,
But then woos best when most his choice is froward. 570

When he did frown, O, had she then gave over,

Such nectar from his lips she had not suck'd.

Foul words and frowns must not repel a lover ;

What though the rose have prickles, yet 'tis pluck'd:

Were beauty under twenty locks kept fast, 575

Yet love breaks through, and picks them all at last.

For pity now she can no more detain him ;

The poor fool prays her that he may depart :

She is resolv'd no longer to restrain him ;

Bids him farewell, and look well to her heart, 580

The which, by Cupid's bow she doth protest,

He carries thence incaged in his breast.

" Sweet boy," she says, " this night I '11 waste in sorrow.
For my sick heart commands mine eyes to watch.
Tell me, love's master, shall we meet to-morrow? 585

Say, shall we? shall we? wilt thou make the match?"
He tells her, no; to-morrow he intends
To hunt the boar with certain of his friends.

565. temp' ring] SevisW, tempring (^q, tempering C&rabxiAgt. 567- centring]
Sewell, ventring Qq, venturing Cambridge. 574. prickles] Qq 1-4, pricks

The rest ; 'tis] tis\ Qq 1-4, is it The rest, it is Lintott and Gildon. 582. in-
caged] engaged Lintott, ingaged Gildon.

565. temp'ring] It was formerly, says S^^- whose , . . commission] which
Malone, the custom to seal with soft intemperately exceeds its instructions,
wax which was tempered between the is given an inch and takes an ell.
fingers before the impression was made. 570' choice] Cf. Winter's Tale, v. i.
Steevens compares S Henry IV. iv. 214: "I am sorry Your choice is not
iii. 140 : " I have him already temper- so rich in worth as in beauty. That you
ing between my finger and thumb, and might well enjoy her."
shortly will I seal with him." See also t,^?>. poor foot] This, as Malone notes,
Lyly{ed. Bond, i. p. 187): "the tender was formerly an expression of tender-
youth of a childe is lyke the temperinge ness, and used of Cordelia in Lear,
of new waxe apt to receive any form " ; v. iii. 306, on which see Craig's note
and ibid. p. 207 : " And as the softe in this edition.

waxe receiveth what soever print be in 584. watch] remain awake ; cf.

the scale, and sheweth no other impres- Taming of the Shrew, IV. i. 208 : "She

sion, so the tender babe being sealed shall watch all night. And if she chance

with his fathers giftes representeth his to nod I'll rail and brawl."

Image most lyvely." 5^6. match] agreement or bargain;

565, 567. temp'ring — venfring] Here cf. Merchant of Venice, III. i. 46 :

modern spelling makes a bad rime "another bad match."
worse.

VENUS AND ADONIS 33

"The boar!" quoth she: whereat a sudden pale,
Like lawn being spread upon the blushing rose, 590

Usurps her cheek ; she trembles at his tale, ,- ,,

And on his neck her yoking arms she throws : ( JAj'^

She sinketh down, still hanging by his neck, '^

He on her belly falls, she on her back.

Now is she in the very lists of love, 59S

Her champion mounted for the hot encounter :

All is imaginary she doth prove.

He will not manage her, although he mount her;
That worse than Tantalus' is her annoy,
To clip Elysium, and to lack her joy. 600

Even so poor birds, deceiv'd with painted grapes.
Do surfeit by the eye and pine the maw,
Even so she languisheth in her mishaps
As those poor birds that helpless berries saw.

591. c/ieekj cheeke Qq 1-3; cheekes Qq 4, 8, 9, 11 ; cheeks 'Y\^t rest. 593.

by\ Qq 1-3, on The rest. 598. manage her] manage he Q 4. 599. Tan-
talus'] Malone, Tantalus Qq. 601. s6\ Qq 1-7, 10; as Qq 8, 9, 11-13.
603, 604. mishaps As . , . saw. ] mishaps ; As . . . saw, S. Walker conj.

589. pale\ pallor. New Eng. Diet, myser \i.e. wretched man] still doth
cites Surrey, JEneid, iv. 666 : " The pine " \i.e. hunger].

pale her face gan staine." Malone • 599. annoy] Contrasted with "joy"

compared The Shepheard's Song of also in 3 Henry VI. v. vii. 45.

Venus and Adonis (H. C[onstable] in 600. clip] clasp, still used in the

England's Helicon) : fitting shop.

" At the name of boare 601. painted grapes] See Holland's

Venus seemed dying : Pliny, vol. ii. p. 535: "Zeuxis for

Deadly-colour'd pale proofe of his cunning, brought upon

Roses over cast " ; the scaffold a table \i.e. picture], wherein

Cf. Lucrece, 1. 1512. were clustres of grapes so lively painted,

590. Like lawn] Cf. Lucrece, 258, 259 that the very birds of the air flew
(Steevens). See also Herrick (ed. flocking thither for to bee pecking at
Grosart, i. p. 57): "Like to a Twi- the grapes"; cf. Epistle to The Tri-
light or that simpring Dawn, That tameron of Love (Grosart's Greene,
Roses shew, when misted o'er with iii. 48) : "it is like Zeusis counterfaits.
Lawn." which seemed at a blush to be grapes " ;

598. manage] Mr. Wyndham reads and Dorastus and Fawnia (ibid. iv.
manege, but the word was early 289): " Zeusis grapes were like Grapes
naturalised: Minsheu has "Manadge, yet shadowes."

Manage," and calls it a grooms' word : 602. pine] starve, in the active sense,

"proprie est equisonum qui solent as in Richard II. v. i. 77: "towards

equos refractarios, orisque immorigeri, the north Where shivering cold and

hoc modo domare, frsenoque obse- sickness pines the clime" ; and William

quentes reddere " ; and Cotgrave : Morris, Poems by the Way, p. 126 :

"Manege: m. The manage or man- "And what wealth then shall be left

aging of ahorse." us when none shall gather gold To

599. Tantalus] Cf. Romeus and Juliet buy his friend in the market, and pinch
(Hazlitt's Shaks. Lib. p. 90) : " The lot and pine the sold ? "

of Tantalus is Romeus lyke thine ; For 604. helpless] which could not feed
want of foode amid his foode, the them. Malone cites "helpless patience"

3

34 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

The warm effects which she in him finds missing 605
She seeks to kindle with continual kissing.

But all in vain ; good queen, it will not be :

She hath assay'd as much as may be prov'd ;

Her pleading hath deserv'd a greater fee;

She's Love, she loves, and yet she is not lov'd. 610

" Fie, fie," he says, " you crush me ; let me go ;

You have no reason to withhold me so."

"Thou hadst been gone," quoth she, "sweet boy, ere this,
But that thou told'st me thou wouldst hunt the boar.
O, be advis'd: thou know'st not what it is 615

With javelin's point a churlish swine to gore,

Whose tushes never sheath'd he whetteth still,

Like to a mortal butcher, bent to kill.

" On his bow-back he hath a battle set

Of bristly pikes, that ever threat his foes ; 620

His eyes, like glow-worms, shine when he doth fret ;

His snout digs sepulchres where'er he goes;

Being mov'd, he strikes whate'er is in his way.

And whom he strikes his crooked tushes slay.

605. effects^ affects Steevens conj. [615. noti nor Q I, not Clar. Press

facsimile. 616. javelin' s\ jauelings Qq 1-3. 624. crooked] Qq, cruel Bos-
well ; lushes slay] tusks doth slay Q 10.

from Comedy of Errors, II. i. 39. See with both the tushes brave, And eke

also Richard III. I. ii. 13: "I pour the skin with bristles star right griesly,

the helpless balm of my poor eyes." he hir gave " ; but he also uses the

605. warm effects] Steevens conj. form " tuskes," 1. 494.
"affects," comparing "young affects," 618. mortal] slaughtering, deadly;

Othello, I. iii. 264; Malone (ed. 1821) cf. Richard II. ill. ii. 21 : "a lurking

comments: "Effects means conse- adder Whose double tongue may with

quences produced by action. There is a mortal touch Throw death upon thy

clearly no need of change." Yet the sovereign's enemies." See also 1. 953.

words were sometimes confused ; see Minsheu has : ' ' Mortall . . . mortalis,

Menaphon (Grosart's Greene, vi. p. 58) : a morte. Lethalis, a letho . . . Vi.

"This was spoken with such deepe Deadly."

effects [emotion], that Samela could 619. battle] army, or division of army,

scarce keepe her \i.e. herself] from battalion ; cf. 1 Henry IV. IV. i. 129 ;

smiling, yet she covered her conceipt 2.r\i Julius Ccesar, v. iii. ro8. Malone

with a sorrowful countenance." compares Golding's description of the

6o8./;-ow'if] experienced; cf. "prove," boar of Thessaly (mentioned in Antony

1. 597. and Cleopatra, IV. xiii, 2), Ov. Met.

615. be advis'd] take care; cf. viii. 379, 380: "And like a front of

S Henry VI. 11. iv. 36: "And when armed Pikes set close in battle ray, The

I start the envious people laugh And sturdy bristles on his back stoode staring

bid me be advised how I tread." up alway " ; and 1. 376: "His eyes

617. tushes] tusks ; cf. Golding's did glister blood and fire."
Ovid, viii. 384 : " Among the greatest 623. mov'd] used absolutely, as often,

Oliphants in all the land of Inde A in the sense of irritated or enraged ;

greater tush than had this Boare, ye see Taming of the Shrew, v. ii. 142 :

shall not lightly finde"; and ibid. "A woman moved is as a fountain

1, 563: "Immediately the ugly head troubled. Muddy, ill seeming, thick";

VENUS AND ADONIS 35

" His brawny sides, with hairy bristles armed, 625

Are better proof than thy spear's point can enter ;

His short thick neck cannot be easily harmed ;

Being ireful, on the lion he will venter :

The thorny brambles and embracing bushes,

As fearful of him, part ; through whom he rushes. 630

"Alas, he nought esteems that face of thine.

To which Love's eyes pay tributary gazes ;

Nor thy soft hands, sweet lips and crystal eyne.

Whose full perfection all the world amazes ;

But having thee at vantage — wondrous dread! — 635
Would root these beauties as he roots the mead.

" O, let him keep his loathsome cabin still ;

Beauty hath nought to do with such foul fiends :

Come not within his danger by thy will ;

They that thrive well take counsel of their friends. 640
When thou didst name the boar, not to dissemble,
I fear'd thy fortune, and my joints did tremble,

"Didst thou not mark my face? was it not white?

Saw'st thou not signs of fear lurk in mine eye?

Grew I not faint? and fell I not downright? 645

Within my bosom, whereon thou dost lie,

My boding heart pants, beats, and takes no rest.
But, like an earthquake, shakes thee on my breast.

" For where Love reigns, disturbing Jealousy

Doth call himself Affection's sentinel ; 650

625-627. armed . . . karmed] Qq, arnid . . . harm'd Malone (1790).
628. venter\Qja^, venture GWAon.. 632. Love' s eyes'] Loves-eye Q 10 ; eyes pay]
Malone (1790) ; eyes pates Qq I, 2; eyes pay es Q 3 ; eies paies Q 4 ; eye paies Qq
5, 7, 8 ; eye payes Qq 6, 9, 10-13. 633. hands'] hand Lintott and Gildon.
643. my] his Q 7, this Anon. conj. MS.

and Romeo and Juliet, I. i. 7 : "I love come he will enter And soon find

strike quickly being moved." out his vfay. "

626. proof] like armour of proof, 636. root] uproot ; cf. Lyly (ed. Bond,

tested and found strong; see Prof. ii. 128) : " Fire is to be quenched in the

Dowden's note on Hamlet, III. iv. 38, spark, vifeeds are to be rooted in the

in this series: "If it [your heart] be bud, foUyes in the blossome."
made of penetrable stuff. If damned 639. within his danger] into his

custom have not brass'd it so That power. New Eng. Diet, cites Ridley's

it be proof and bulwark against Works (1843), loi : " They put them-

sense." selves in the danger of King Ahab,

628. venter] I have restored the saying, 'behold we have heard that

reading of the Quartos : modern spell- the kings of the house of Israel are

ing and pronunciation obscure the rime, pitiful and merciful.' "
as in Palgrave's Golden Treasury, p. 642. fear'd] feared for ; cf. Titus

84; "Where the midge dares not Andronicus, 11. iii. 305: "Fear not

venture Lest herself fast she lay ; If thy sons ; they shall do well enough,"

36 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Gives false alarms, suggesteth mutiny,

And in a peaceful hour doth cry ' Kill, kill ! '

Distemp'ring gentle Love in his desire,

As air and water do abate the fire.

"This sour informer, this bate-breeding spy, 655

This canker that eats up Love's tender spring.

This carry-tale, dissentious Jealousy,

That sometime true news, sometime false doth bring,
Knocks at my heart, and whispers in mine ear.
That if I love thee, I thy death should fear : 660

" And more than so, presenteth to mine eye
The picture of an angry-chafing boar,
Under whose sharp fangs on his back doth lie
An image like thyself, all stain'd with gore ;

Whose blood upon the fresh flowers being shed 665
Doth make them droop with grief and hang the head.

" What should I do, seeing thee so indeed.

That tremble at th' imagination?

The thought of it doth make my faint heart bleed,

651. Gives] due Q 6. 653. in\ Qq 1-3, with The rest. 654. do\ Qq
1-3, doth The rest. 655. bate-] bare- Q 4. 658. That sometime] That
somtimes Qq 3, 4, 6 ; That sotims Qq 5, 7 ; That sometimes Q 10. sometime

false] sometimes false Q 10. 660. should] shall Q 10. 662. angry-chafing]
hyphened by Malone. 666. ihetn] 'em Gildon ; droop] Qq, drop Lintott and
Gildon.

652. Kill, kill] Malone on Lear, IV. breeds no bate with telling of discreet
vi. 191, says that this was formerly the stories."

word given in the English army when 656. canker] canker-worm, cater-

an onset was made on the enemy, and pillar. Promptorium Parvulorum has :

cites The Mirrour for Magistrates "Cankyr, Wyrme of A tre : Teredo,

(1610, p. 315) : " For while the French- is ; fem." etc. Cf. Lyly, Euphues {^NVs.

men fresh assaulted still, Our English- ed. Bond, ii. 14): "Daunger and

men came boldly forth at night, Crying delight grow both uppon one staike, the

St. George, Salisbury, kill, kill, And Rose and the Canker in one bud " ;

offered freshly with their foes to fight. " and ibid. p. 18: "as the Canker

See also Drayton, Battle of Agincourt soonest entreth into the white Rose, so

(ed. Chalmers, p. 17 a): "Whilst corruption doth earliest creepe into the

scalps about like broken pot sherds fly, white head." ' See also Two Gentlemen

And kill, kill, kill, the conqu'ring Eng- of Verona, I. i. 43 ; and Midsummer-

lish cry." Night's Dream, 11. ii. 3.

653. Z)wto«^Vz«^]diluting, and hence 656. spring] "Spring is used here,
abating, or quenching. The mention as in other places, for a young shoot
of air, water and fire in the next line or plant, or rather the tender bud of
might induce us to associate the word growing love," — Malone, who compares
with "temper "in the sense of "pre- Comedy of Errors, iii. ii. 3: "Even
serve the due mixture and proportion in the spring of love, thy love-springs
of elements or of humours"; but see rot." Cf. Turbervile's Booke "of
New Eng. Diet, sub voc. Distemper, Hunting (ed. 1908, p. 84): "there is
V. °. difference betweene springs or coppises

655. bate-breeding] causing strife ; cf. and other feeding places."
^ Henry IV. 11. iv. 271: "And

VENUS AND ADONIS

And fear doth teach it divination :

I prop Vifiy l-hy dpatji, piy livrnpr ^nrrnw,

:' (•-

■,'-*

11 thou encounter with the boar to-morrow.

37

67b

" But if thou needs wilt hunt, be rul'd by me ;

Uncouple at the timorous flying hare,

Or at the fox which lives by subtlety, 675

Or at the roe which no encounter dare :

Pursue these fearful creatures o'er the downs,

And on thy well-breath'd horse keep with thy hounds.

"And when thou hast on foot the purblind hare,
Mark the poor wretch, to overshoot his troubles, 680

How he outruns the wind, and with what care
He cranks and crosses with a thousand doubles :

The many musits through the which he goes

Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes.

673. wiW] will Gildon. 680. Mark'\ Make Q 4 ; overshoof] Dyce (Steevens
conj,), over-shut Qq 1-3, overshut The rest. 684. amaze'\ maze Capell MS.

673. be . , , me'] follow my advice ;
so in The Merry Wives of Windsor, I.
i. 72, and often.

674. Uncouple] the technical term

see Topsel, Four-footed Beasts (ed.
1658, p. 212) : "when the dog is sent
forth, and after much winding and
casting about, falleth into the footstep
of the Hare, then let him loose another,
and seeing them run in one course un-
couple all the hounds."

676. dare] the older form of " dares."

677. fearful] timid; cf. Topsel, p.
210: "It falleth out by divine Provi-
dence, that Hares and other fearfull
Beasts which are goodformeat,shalI mul-
tiply to greater numbers in short space."

678. well-breath'd] sound in wind,
able to undergo great exertion without
panting or losing breath. In Morte
Darthur (ed. Sommer, p. 313) it is
said of Tristram that "he was called
byggar than sir launcelot but sir
Launcelot was better brethed," and
ibid. p. 194, Turquyne says to Tristram :
" thou arte the byggest man that ever
I mette with al and the best brethed."

679. purblind] See Topsel, p. 208 :
" The [hare's] eyelids coming from the
brows, are too short to cover their
eyes, and therefore this sense is weak
in them ; and besides their over-much
sleep, their fear of Dogs and swiftness,
causeth them to see the less. "

680. overshoot] pass beyond, and so
escape ; cf. Turbervile, Booke of Hunt-

ing (ed. 1908, p. II): "they [the
hounds] are bote, and doe quickly
overshoote the track or path of the
chace which they undertake." Malone
explains the Quarto reading to mean "to
conclude," on the analogy of' 'to shut up."

682. cranks] makes sudden turns ; cf.
"cranking" in 1 Henry IV. in. i.
98 ; and the frequentative form ' ' crank-
ling" in Drayton's Polyolbion, xii. 572 :
"crankling Many-fold ... of whose
meandered ways. And labyrynth-like
turns (as in the moors she strays) She
first received her name."

683. musits] Steevens referred to
Cotgrave: "Trouee: f. A gap, or
muset in a hedge." Nares has " Muse,
Muset, Musit, s. The opening in a
fence or thicket through which a hare,
or other beast of sport, is accustomed
to pass." He quotes Markham, Gentl.
Academie{\y)<^, p. 32): "We term the
place where she [the hare] sitteth, her
forme, the places through which she
goes to releefe, her muset." See
additional examples in New Eng. Diet.
The words were, however, occasionally
used of the hare's form and, figuratively,
of any lurking place, as well as of the
hole or'short tunnel through which she
passes. So too Topsel uses "muse,"
p. 208 : ' ' they [hares] are so cunning
in the ways, and muses of the field " ;
and p. 212 : " a quick smelling Hound,
which raiseth the Hare out of her muse. "

684. labyrinth] See quotation from

38

SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

" Sometime he runs among a flock of sheep, 685

To make the cunning hounds mistake their smell,
And sometime where earth-delving conies keep.
To stop the loud pursuers in their yell ;

And sometime sorteth with a herd of deer :

Danger deviseth shifts : wit waits on fear : 690

" For there his smell with others being mingled,
The hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt,
Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled
With much ado the cold fault cleanly out ;

685. a] Qq 1-3, ike The rest ; jffock] flocks Q 10. 687. sometime] sometimes

Q 10. 692. hot scent-snuffing] hot-sent snuffing Q 10.

Drayton on 1. 682, and Topsel, p. 211 :
" in her course she taketh not one way,
but maketh heads Uke labyrinths, to
circumvent and trouble the Dogs."

685-688. Sometime . . . yell] See
Turbervile, Books of Hunting (Clar.
Press, p. 165) : " And I have seen hares
oftentimes runne into a flock of sheepe
in the field when they were hunted, and
woulde never leave the flocke, untill I
was forced to couple up my houndes,
and folde up the sheepe or sometimes
drive them to the Cote : and then the
hare would forsake them ... I have
scene that would take the grounde like a
Coney . . . when they have beenhunted."

687. keep] have their burrows. The
sense "dwell" was common once and
is not extinct. See Drayton, Polyolbion,
ix. 82 : " the Iamb ... to save itself
may creep Into that darksome cave
where once his foe did keep."

689. sorteth] Elsewhere Shakespeare
uses ' ' consort " in this sense, except in
Love's Labour's Lost, i. i. 261, where
both are found : ' ' sorted and con-
sorted . . . with a child of our grand-
mother Eve, a female."

690. shifts] devices, expedients ; cf.
King John, IV. iii. 7 : " If I get down
and do not break my limbs, I '11 find a
thousand shifts to get away."

693. Ceasing . . . cry] a sign of
good hounds ; see Master of Game (Re-
print, 1909, p. no): "Other kind of
hounds there be which open and jangle
when they are uncoupled, as well when
they be not in her fues (on their line),
and when they be in her fues they
questey too much in seeking their chase
whatever it be, and if they learn the
habit when they are young and are not
chastised thereof, they will evermore

be noisy and wild, and namely
[especially] when they seek their chase,
for when the chase is found, the hounds
cannot questey too much so that they be
in the fues." Again, p. 107 : " Hounds
there are which be bold and brave . . .
for when the hart comes in danger they
will chase him, but they will not open
nor quest while he is among the change
\i.e. like Shakespeare's hare, "his
smell with others being mingled "], for
dread to envoyse and do amiss, but
when they have dissevered him, then
will they open and hunt him."

693. singled] To single is to dis-
tinguish the scent .of the chase, i.e.
the hunted animal, from that of another
which has crossed its path, etc. The
term used in The Master of Game is
" dissever." The opposite is to "hunt
change." See Turbervile's Booke of
Hunting {Reprint, 1908, p. 35) : " there
is difference betwene the sent of a.
Harte and a Hynde, as you may see by
experience that houndes do oftentimes
single that one from that other."

694. cold fault] a condensed expres-
sion of which no other instance is cited
in New Eng. Diet. " Fault " is defect
sc. of scent, and strictly speaking, it is
the scent not the fault which is cold,
whether from being mixed with that
of other beasts than "the chase," or
from the nature of the ground, or from
lapse of time. Hounds were said to
' ' fail " or to be " at default " when they
lost the scent. So Greene, Euphues
his Censure (Grosart, vi. 277) : " Shall
wee bee such cowardes as to measure
our thoughtes by the favours of fortune,
or resemble those bad hounds that at
the first fault \i.e, failure of scent] give
over the chase ? "

ve:nus ajnjj adonis

39

Then do they spend their mouths : Echo replies, 695
As if another chase were in the skies.

" By this, poor Wat, far off upon a hill.

Stands on his hinder legs with list'ning ear.

To hearken if his foes pursue him still:

Anon their loud alarums he doth hear; 700

And now his grief may be compared well
To one sore sick that hears the passing-bell.

"Then shalt thou see the dew-bedabbled wretch

Turn, and return, indenting with the way ;

Each envious brier his weary legs doth scratch, 705

Each shadow makes him stop, each murmur stay:

For misery is trodden on by many,

And being low never reliev'd by any.

" Lie quietly, and hear a little more ;

Nay, do not struggle, for thou shalt not rise: 710

To make thee hate the hunting of the boar,

' 695. mouths'] mouth's Qq 1-3. 700. theirl with Qq 3, 4. 704. indenting]
intending Q 4. 705. doth] do Qq 1-3.

695. spend their mouths] Cf. Henry
V. II, iv. 70 ; Troilus and Cressida,

V. i. 98 ; quoted in Mr. Justice
Madden's Diary of Master William
Silence, p. 35.

696. As . . . skies'] Contrast Titus
Andronicus, II. iii. 16-20 :

" Under their sweet shade, Aaron,
let us sit
And whilst the babbling echo

mocks the hounds
Replying shrilly to the well-
tuned horns,
As if a dozible hunt was heard

at once,
Let us sit down and mark their
yelping noise."
It is hard to believe that this yelping
noise is Shakespeare's. See Introduc-
tion.

698. Stands . , .] So Topsel, Four-
footed Beasts, p. 211 : "when she
[the hare] hath left both Hunters and
Dogs a great way behinde her, she
getteth to some hill or rising of the
earth, there she raiseth herself upon
her hinder legs, like a Watch-man in
his Tower, observing how far or near
the enemy approacheth."

702. passing-bell] Cf. Topsel (ed. 1 658,
p. 210), speaking of a hare pursued by
a fox : " when she can go no more,
needs must her weakness betray her

to her foe, and so was her flight and
want of rest like a sickness begun
before her death, and the Foxes
presence like the voyce of a passing
bell."

704. indenting] To indent is "to
sever the two halves of a document,
drawn up in duplicate, by a toothed,
zigzag or wavy line, so that the two
parts exactly tally with each other"
(New. Eng. Diet.). Hence it means to
make a jagged outline or follow a zig-
zag course ; see Drayton, Polyolbion, i.
1. 158 : " those arms of sea, that
thrust into the tinny strand. By their
meand'red creeks indenting of that
land." A closer parallel is Topsel,
p. 212; "The Dogs . . . run along
with a gallant cry, turning over the
doubtful footsteps ; now one way, now
another, like the cuts of Indentures,
through rough and plain, crooked and
straight, direct and compass, . . .
until they iinde the Hares form."
According to Ray {Proverbs, 3rd ed.
1737) P- 69), "He makes indentures
with his legs," is a " Proverbial Peri-
phrasis of one drunk.''

705. envious] malicious, as often.

705. scratch] So Topsel (p. 210) says
that the hare "rather trusteth the
scratching brambles . . . then a dis-
sembling peace with her adversaries."

40 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Unlike myself thou hear'st me moralize,
Applying this to that, and so to so;
For love can comment upon every woe.

"Where did I leave?" "No matter where," quoth he ; 715

" Leave me, and then the story aptly ends :

The night is spent." " Why, what of that ? " quoth she.

" I am," quoth he, " expected of my friends ;
And now 'tis dark, and going I shall fall."
" In night," quoth she, " desire sees best of all. 720

" But if thou fall, O, then imagine this.

The earth, in love with thee, thy footing trips.

And all is but to rob thee of a kiss.

Rich preys make true men thieves ; so do thy lips

Make modest Dian cloudy and forlorn, 725

Lest she should steal a kiss, and die forsworn.

"Now of this dark night I perceive the reason:
Cynthia for shame obscures her silver shine,
Till forging Nature be condemn'd of treason.
For stealing moulds from heaven that were divine; 730
Wherein she fram'd thee, in high heaven's despite,
To shame the sun by day and her by night.

"And therefore hath she brib'd the Destinies

To cross the curious workmanship of nature.

To mingle beauty with infirmities 735

And pure perfection with impure defeature;

Making it subject to the tyranny

Of mad mischances and much misery;

712. myself^ thy selfe Qq 3-5, 7, 10. 724. true tnen thieves] true-men

theeues Qq l, 2; rich-inen theeue Q 3 ; rich men iheeues The rest. 725. Dian]
Diana Gildon. 728. shine] shrine Sewell. 738. mad] Qq 1-4, sad The rest.

715. leave] break off, cease; it is Lovers Labour's Lost, IV. iii. 187; and

opposed to begin in 3 Henry VI. II. 1 Henry IV. II. ii. 98.

ii. 168 ; see also Arden of Feversham, 725. cloudy] sullen ; cf. Tempest, II.

III. vi. 72 : " Do you remember where i. 142 : " It is foul weather in us all,

my tale did leave? — Ay, where the good sir, When you are cloudy"; 1

gentleman did check his wife." Henry IV. III. ii. 83: "such aspect

"l^l. footing] almost "feet"; cf. As cloudy men use to their adversaries " ;

"set footing," in 2 Henry VI. III. ii. and Macbeth, III. vi. 41 : "with an

87 ; but the word is also used of foot- absolute ' Sir, not I,' The cloudy

print here, 1. 148 ; of footfall, Merchant messenger turns me his back."

of Venice, v. i. 24; and even of the 736. S«/ca/«rc] disfigurement. "Fair"

thing walked on 1 Henry IV. I. iii. meaning beauty is opposed to defeatures

193. in Comedy of Errors, II. i. 98 : "then

724. true] honest ; opposed to thief is he the ground Of my defeatures,

in Measure for Measure, IV. ii. 46 ; My decayed fair A sunny look of his

would soon repair."

VENUS AND ADONIS 41

"As burning fevers, agues pale and faint,

Life-poisoning pestilence and frenzies wood, 74°

The marrow-eating sickness, whose attaint

Disorder breeds by heating of the blood :

Surfeits, imposthumes, grief and damn'd despair.
Swear Nature's death for framing thee so fair.

" And not the least of all these maladies 745

But ^in one minute's fight brings beauty under :
Both favour, savour, hue and qualities.
Whereat the impartial gazer late did wonder,
Are on the sudden wasted, thaw'd and done,
As mountain snow melts with the midday sun. 750

Lov& Jacking. y ps<"^1° '■"'^ srif-lr.-'^i'ng nuns,
That on thg, eart h would b reed a scarcity
And barren dearfH]"or'daughters and of sons,

Be pr.Qdi gaTTthe lamp that burns by n ight 755

Dries~uplhk.£ui-*Q lend the world his light.

" What is thy body but a swallowing grave,

Seeming to bury that posterity

Which by the rights of time thou needs must have,

If thou destroy them not in dark obscurity ? 760

If so, the world will hold thee in disdain,
Sith in thy pride so fair a hope is slain.

" So in thyself thyself art made away ;

A mischief worse than civil home-bred strife.

Or theirs whose desperate hands themselves do slay, 765

Or butcher-sire that reaves his son of life.

739. fevers] fever Sewell ; agues pale'] agues, pale Qq 4-8. 742- heating']
beating Lintott and Gildon. 744. Swear] Sweares Q 10. 746- fight] Qq 1-4,
sight The rest. 748. impartial] impartiall Qq 1-3, imperiall The rest.
753. That] Thus ?ie«t\\{tA.\.). 754. dearth] death (^^. 760. dark]darke
Qq 1-3, their The rest. 765. do] to Q ^.

740. mood] mad ; cf. Orlando Furioso 747. favour] beauty, or rather win-
(Grosart's Greene, xiii. p. l6l)': "Fran- someness, as in the proverb, "Kissing
ticke companion, lunaticke and wood." goes by favour." See also New Eng.

741. attaint] Schmidt explains "in- Diet. sub. voc.

fection, impairment," quoting Zr«?2?7 F. T^?!. posterity] Malone compares

IV. Chortes 39: "But freshly looks Sonnet iii. 7, 8: "Or vsfho is he so

and overbears attaint With cheerful fond will be the tomb Of his self-love,

countenance." to stop posterity?"

743. imposthumes] swellings or ab- 766. reaves] bereaves, deprives, as in

scesses, used figuratively in ^a?«/i!/, iv. All's Well, v. iii. 86; and Z Henry

ii. 27. With this stanza may be com- VI. v. i. 187.
pared Paradise Lost, xi. 480-490.

42

SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Foul cank'ring rust the hidden treasure frets,
But gold that's put to use more gold begets."

"Nay, then," quoth Adon, "you will fall again

Into your idle over-handled theme: 770

The kiss I gave you is bestow'd in vain,

And all in vain you strive against the stream ;

For, by this black-fac'd night, desire's foul nurse,
■^ Your treatise mak '^g mp m^p ynil ^ vorse and wors e.

" If love have lent you twenty thousand tongues, 775

And every tongue more moving than your own.
Bewitching like the wanton mermaid's songs,
Yet from mine ear the tempting tune is blown ;
For know, my heart stands armed in mine ear.
And will not let a false sound enter there; 780

" Lest the deceiving harmony should run

Into the quiet closure of my breast;

And then my little heart were quite undone,

In his bedchamber to be barr'd of rest.

No, lady, no ; my heart longs not to groan.
But soundly sleeps, while now it sleeps alone.

"What have you urg'd that I cannot reprove?
The path is smooth that leadeth on to danger:
I hate not lov e_bu.t your jje^dce-m-Joye H^

785

775. kave] hath Qq lo, 12, 13.
788. on to\ Qq 1-3, vnto The rest.

768. But . . . begets'] Steevens com-
pares Merchant of Venice, I. iii. 97 ;
and Malone, Hero and Leander (Mar-
lowe, ed. Dyce, 282 a) :

"What difference betwixt the
richest mine
And basest mould but use? for

both, not us'd.
Are of like worth. Then treasure

is abus'd,
When misers keep it : being put

to loan,
In time it will return us two for
one."
774- treatise] discourse, narrative, as
in Much Ado, I. i. 317 : "But lest my
liking might too sudden seem, I would
have salved it with a longer treatise " ;
and Macbeth, V. v. 12: "my fell of
hair Would at a dismal treatise rouse
and stir As life were in it."

779. mine] Qq 1-4, 10; my The rest.

782. closure] enclosure ; cf. Richard
III. HI. iii. II : "the guilty closure of
thy walls " ; Greene, Friar Bacon (ed.
Grosart, xiii. 74): "scrowls . . .
Wrapt in rich closures of fine burnisht
gold"; A Looking-Glasse for London
(xiv. 78) : " closures of thy lamps," i.e.
eyelids.

784. to be barr'd] i.e. by being
deprived.

787. reprove] refute ; cf. Much Ado,
II. iii. 241 : " They say the lady is fair ;
'tis a truth, I can bear them witness ;
and virtuous ; 'tis so, I cannot reprove
it"; and S Henry VI. III. i. 40:
"Reprove my allegation, if you can:
Or else conclude ray words effectual."

789. device] Schmidt explains,
"manner of thinking, cast of mind,"
and includes under the same definition
As You Like It, i. i. 174; "full of

VENUS AND ADONIS 43

That_leada_embracements unto^very stranger. 790

"Call it not love, for Love to heaven is fled

Since sweating Lust on earth usurp'd his name;

Under whose simple semblance he hath fed 795

Upon fresh beauty, blotting it with blame;

Which the hot tyrant stains and soon bereaves,

As caterpillars do the tender leaves.

" Love comforteth like sunshine after rain,

But Lust's effect is tempest after sun ; 800

Love's gentle spring doth always fresh remain.

Lust's winter comes ere summer half be done;

Love surfeits not, Lust like a glutton dies; -'„ ^ .

Love is all truth. Lust full of forged lies. /> ' -^ - Cj'^-'

" ^or e I could te ll^JiuLJmar&JL^ar-e-Jiot„.Sg.y ;m^ ^oS

T!heTextji|,_oldC]SilMator^^Jliaj^^ /

Therefore, in sadness, now I will away ;

My face is full of shame, my heart of teen :

Mine ears, that to your wanton talk attended,

Do burn themselves for having so offended." 810

With this, he breaketh from the sweet embrace
Of those fair arms which bound him to her breast,
And homeward through the dark lawnd runs apace;

794. usurp'd] usurps Q 4, usurps Lintott and Gildon. 801. always] alway
Q 10. 809. talk] calls Lintott and Gildon. 813. lawnd] Qq 1-3, lawnes
The rest, lanes Lintott and Gildon.

noble device," which New. Eng. Diet. 808. teen] sorrow ; cf. Tempest, I. ii.

treats as an instance of the meaning — 64 ; and Richard III. IV. i. 97, where

action or faculty of devising, invention, it is opposed to joy : " Eighty odd year

ingenuity. It might be better to explain of sorrow have I seen, And each hour's

"behaviour when in love, plan or mode joy wreck'd with a week of teen."

of conductingyour love affairs." The next 813. lawnd] an earUer form of

lineisprobablyexplanatory of "device," "lawn," an open space in woods; cf.

but the construction might possibly be Drayton, Polyolbion, xiii. 89: "And

" the device of you who lend," etc. near to these our thicks \i.e. thickets]

806. green] The same contrast be- the wild and frightful herds . . . Feed
tween green, meaning "inexperienced," finely on the launds." Lyly omits
and old occurs in King John, III. iv. the "d"; see Maydes Metamorphosis,
145 : " How green you are and fresh in I. i. : " within a Lawne hard by Obscure
this old world." with bushes." It seems to have a

807. in sadness] seriously, truly ; see somewhat wider sense in The Woman
Romeo and Juliet, I. i. 205-210, where in the Moone, IV. i. 243 : "Out of my
Romeo pretends to misunderstand it : ground, Learchus, from my land. And
"Tell me in sadness, who is that you from henceforward come not neare my
love. — What, shall I groan and tell lawnes."

you?" etc.

44 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Leaves Love upon her^back deeply distress'd.

Look, how a bright star shooteth from the sky, 815
So glides he in the night from Venus' eye:

Which after him she darts, as one on shore
Gazing upon a late-embarked friend.
Till the wild waves will have him seen no more,
Whose ridges with the meeting clouds contend : 820

So did the merciless and pitchy night
Fold in the object that did feed her sight.

Whereat amaz'd, as one that unaware

Hath dropp'd a precious jewel in the flood.

Or 'stonish'd as night-wanderers often are, 825

Their light blown out in some mistrustful wood ;
Even so confounded in the dark she lay.
Having lost the fair discovery of ^er way.

And now she beats her heart, whereat it groans.

That all the neighbour caves, as seeming troubled, 830

Make verbal repetition of her moans;

Passion on passion deeply is redoubled :

" Ay me ! " she cries, and twenty times, " Woe, woe ! "
And twenty echoes twenty times cry so.

She, marking them, begins a wailing note, 835

And sings extemporally a woeful ditty;

818. Gasinff] Gazeth Capell MS. ; late-embarked] hyphened by Malone (Capell
MS.). 828. discovery] discoverer Steevens conj. 832. deeply] doubly

S. Walker conj. 833. Ay] Ah Malone.

816. So glides he] Steevens compares "conduct" in the sense of body-guard,

Troilus and Cressida, n. ii. 46 : "And Twelfth Night, in. iv. 265.
fly like chidden Mercury from Jove Or 832. PassiorC] lamentation ; cf. Mer-

like a star disorb'd," but there the chant of Venice, n. viii. 12 ; and King

point of the comparison lies only in the John, III. iv. 39,

speed, "not as here in the beauty and 833. Ay me!] This phrase, common

the'succeeding gloom. in writers of the time, appears in

825. 'stonish'd] equivalent to "con- Hamlet, III. iv. 51, and in Antony and
founded," 1. 827. The meaning is Cleopatra, ill. vi. 76. Change is need-
much the same as "thunder-struck" in less.

later prose. See Henry V. v. i. 40, 836. a laoeful ditty] J. Sylvester in

where Pistol is said to have been The Wood-Man' s {i.e. Hunter's) Bear

astonished by Fluellen. (Wks., 1621 ed.,!p. 1202), sings deliber-

826. mistrustful] causing mistrust or ately a similar one :

suspicion ; no other example of this " Thus he [Love] tortures, voide of

meaning in New Eng. Diet. pitie,

828. discovery] Steevens proposed Rich and poore, and fond and

"discoverer," j.«. Adonis, but Malone wise,

compares "information" for informer Through the streets of all the

in Coriolanus, iv. vi. 53. See also Citie ;

"divorce" for divorcer, I. 932, and Causing by his cruelties,

VENUS AND ADONIS 45

How love makes young men thrall, and old men dote;

How love is wise in folly, foolish-witty:

Her heavy anthem still concludes in woe,

And still the choir of echoes answer so. 840

I Her song was tedious, and outwore the night,
V.For lovers' hours are long, though seeming short:
rJf pleas'd themselves, others, they think, delight
In such-like circumstance, with such-like sport:

Their copious stories, oftentimes begun, 845

\4 End without audience, and are never done.

For who hath she to spend the night withal,

But idle sounds resembling parasites;

Like shrill-tongued tapsters answering every call,

Soothing the humour of fantastic wits? 850

She says " 'Tis so " : they answer all " 'Tis so " ;

And would say after her, if she said "No."

Lo, here the gentle lark, weary of rest,

From his moist cabinet mounts up on high,

And wakes the morning, from whose silver breast 855

The sun ariseth in his majesty ;

Who doth the world so gloriously behold,
That cedar-tops and hills seem burnish'd gold.

Venus salutes him with this fair good-morrow :
"O thou clear god, and patron of all light, 860

From whom each lamp and shining star doth borrow
The beauteous influence that makes him bright.

There lives a. son, that suck'd an earthly mother.
May lend thee light, as thou dost lend to other."

838. foolish-witty\ hyphened by Malone. 840. answer\ answers Q 13.

843. If^ It Lintott ; others'] other Q 10. 848. idle sounds resembling] idle,

sounds-resembling, Staunton. 850. wits] wights Theobald conj. 851. says]

sayes Qq i, 2 ; sales Q 3 ; said The rest. 858. That] The Lintott and

. Gildon ; cedar-tops] hyphened by Sewell. 859. this] his Q ro. 862.

beauteous'] beauties Lintott.

Sighing - singing, freezing- the scene of "Anon, anon. Sir" in

frying, 1 Henry IV. II. iv. 40-80.

Laughing - weeping, living- 854. cabinet] dwelling ; cf. Lucrece,

dying." 442. It is used of a cottage by Lyiy,

847. withal] with, as often, when a Woman in the Moone, iv. i. 162 ; "For
noun or pronoun does not follow. he hath thrust me from his cabinet. "

848. sounds resembling] Staunton's 857. Who . . .] Malone compares
hyphen spoils the sense: the sounds Sonnet xxxiii. : "Full many a glorious
are echoes to her own voice. morning have I seen," etc, -

849. tapsters] Steevens compares

46 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

This said, she hasteth to a myrtle grove, 865

Musing the morning is so much o'erworn,
And yet she hears no tidings of her love :
She hearkens for his hounds and for his horn :

Anon she hears them chant it lustily,

And all in haste she coasteth to the cry. 870

And as she runs, the bushes in the way
Some catch her by the neck, some kiss her face.
Some twine about her thigh to make her stay :
She wildly breaketh from their strict embrace,

Like a milch doe, whose swelling dugs do ache, 875
Hasting to feed her fawn hid in some brake.

By this she hears the hounds are at a bay ;

Whereat she starts, like one that spies an adder

Wreath'd up in fatal folds just in his way.

The fear whereof doth make him shake and shudder ; 880
Even so the timorous yelping of the hounds
Appals her senses and her spirit confounds.

For now she knows it is no gentle chase,
But the blunt boar, rough bear, or lion proud,
Because the cry remaineth in one place, 885

Where fearfully the dogs exclaim aloud :
Finding their enemy to be so curst,
They all strain courtesy who shall cope him first.

866. morning . . . o^erworn\ morne . . . overworne Q lo. 870. coastetk']
posteth Q 10. 872. her . . . kiss\ her neck, and some doe kisse Q 10.

873. twine"] twin'd Qq I, 2 ; twind Q 3 ; twinde Q 4. 879. folds] fold Q 10.
882. Appals] Appales Q 4 ; spirit] spirits Q lo. 888. courtesy] courfsie Q 10,
curfsie The rest.

870. coasteth] Coast originally meant p. 158): "a great Bore . . . will take

to go by the side of or skirt (ultimately courage, and keep them styll at Bayes,

from Lat. costa). It is a favourite running upon anything that he seeth

word of Turbervile's, often in the sense before him . . . [but a boar accustomed

of running parallel with an animal in 'to flee endwayes'] wil sildome keepe

order to get ahead of it. Here it seems houndes at a Baye, unlesse he be forced ;

to mean merely "advances, hastens" ; and if he do stand at Baye, the huntes-

cf. Greene's Never Too Late (Grosart, men must ryde in unto him." See also

viii. 27) : "After I left Lions, I passed note on Passionate Pilgrim, xi. 13.
by the Alpes and coasted into Germany"; 887. curst] vicious ; cf. Much Ado,

and Skelton, Bowge of Courte (Dyce, i. II. i. 25 : " God sends a curst cow short

46) : " And to me warde as he gan for horns " ; and Midsummer - Nights

to coost . . . I sawe a knyfe hyd in his Dream, in. ii. 300: "I was never

one sieve." curst; I have no gift at all in

877. at a bay] This phrase is used shrewishness."
both of " the chase " and of the hounds, 888. strain courtesy] I have sometimes

when the former turns and overthrows been in doubt where this expression

his pursuers or dies fighting. See occurs as to whether the image (if any)

Turbervile, Booke of Hunting (Reprint, in the writer's mind was a sieve, or a

VENUS AND ADONIS

47

This dismal cty rings sadly in her ear,
Through which it enters to surprise her heart;
Who, overcome by doubt and bloodless fear,
With cold-pale weakness numbs each feeling part:
Like soldiers, when their captain once doth yield,
They basely fly, and dare not stay the field.

890

89s

Thus stands she in a trembling ecstasy;

Till, cheering up her senses all dismay'd.

She tells them 'tis a causeless fantasy,

And childish error, that they are afraid;

Bids them leave quaking, bids them fear no more :
And with that word she spied the hunted boar; 900

Whose frothy mouth, bepainted all with red,
Like milk and blood being mingled both together,
A second fear through all her sinews spread.

896. all] Qq I, 2 ; sore The rest.
8,9, II-I3-

cord, and the meaning "strain out,
exhibit grudgingly" (as some editors
explain Merchant of Venice, IV. i. 184 :
" The quality of mercy is not strain'd "),
or "stretch to breaking -point." For
instance, when Romeo strains cour-
tesy by failing to keep an appoint-
ment {Romeo and Juliet, II. iv. 55), the
meaning can hardly be that he was
courteous over-much ; cf. Gascoigne
(Cambridge ed. i. 406) : " I find my
selfe somewhat sickleye disposed, and
therefore doe strayne courtesye (as you
see) to goe the sooner to my bedde this
night." But in Chapman, Alphonsus,
V. ii., "Here's straining courtesy at a
bitter feast, ' ' the meaning seems different,
viz. overstraining it, being courteous
beyond reason, for the Empress and her
nephew insist each on dying that the
other may live ; cf. Lyly, Euphues (ed.
Bond, ii. 220) : " at the last though
long time strayning curtesie who should
goe over the stile, when we had both
hast, I . . . began first to unfolde the
extremities of my passions." If "over-
strain " is the meaning here, the hounds
are needlessly polite in offering each
other a chance of distinction. I am
indebted to Prof. Case for the following
examples and comment ; " Both mean-
ings undoubtedly exist; see Mother
Bomhie, III. iii. (Fairholt's Lilly, ii.
109) : "but Stellio, I must straine cur'sie
with you. I have businesse, I cannot

899. Uds\ Qq I-S, 7, 10 ; mlts Qq 6,

stay ''; and Two Lamentable Tragedies,
by Rob. Yarington, 1601 [l. i] ; BuUen's
Old Plays (vol. iv. p. 11):

"See where Jhe is, go in, lie follow
you;

\_Strive curtesies.
Nay straine no curtesie, you shall
goe before."
We still say indifferently, I'll strain,
or stretch a point. In the two uses the
strain is thought of differently ; in the
Romeo and Juliet case, courtesy, as be-
tween two persons, is considered as
having to abide a stress ; in the other,
as being extended or stretched to an
exaggerated or unnecessary degree."

888. cope] used in the original sense
"come to blows with" (Lat. colaphus).
New Eng. Diet, gives among other
examples Caxton, Paris &= V. (1868) :
"And coped togyder so fyersly they
breke theyr speres."

891. Who] which ; her heart over-
whelmed with fear withdraws the blood
from the limbs, and they in turn refuse
their office.

893. captain] Cf. Coriolanus, i. i.
120: "The counsellor heart."

895. ecstasy] ungovernable excitement,
usually of madness ; see Hamlet, iii.
i. 168: "That unmatch'd form and
feature of blown youth Blasted with
ecstasy"; and ibid, iii. iv. 139:
" Ecstasy ! My pulse as yours doth
temperately keep time."

48 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Which madly hurries her she knows not whither :

This way she runs, and now she will no further, 905
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 haste is mated with delays,

Like the proceedings of a drunken brain, 910

Full of respects, yet nought at all respecting:
In hand with all things, nought at all effecting.

Here kennell'd in a brake she finds a hound.

And asks the weary caitiff for his master;

And there another licking of his wound, 91 5

'Gainst venom'd sores the only sovereign plaster;
And here she meets another sadly scowling,
To whom she speaks, and he replies with howling.

When he hath ceas'd his ill-resounding noise,

Another flap-mouth'd mourner, black and grim, 920

Against the welkin volleys out his voice;

Another and another answer him.

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

<y:i%. path^ paths Qq 12, 13. 909. mated\ marred Qc[ 9, 11-13. 911.
respects] Qq i, 2 ; respect The rest. 911, 912. noughi] naught Qq 1-3, not
Gildon. 912. hana\ hands Q 10. 913. ahound\ an hound (^t\ 10, 12, 13.
917. scowling'] scolding \JirAo\.\. a.-a& GiSAorv. 919. AfflM] Qq 1-4, ^arf The rest ;
ill-resounding] hyphened in Q 10. 924. scratch'd ears] hyphened in Qq 1-4.

907. spleens] fears ; cf. Phineas aire '' ; and E. B. Blount, Horn subs.

Fletcher, Purple Island, iii. 17: "The 112: "wise men will not view such

splenion o're against the Hepar laid, persons but with scorn ; nor respect

Built long, and square : some say that them but with disesteem."
laughter here Keeps residence; but 912. /«,4«»rfifzV/5] busied or occupied

laughter fits not there, Where darkness with. New Eng. Diet, cites James I.,

tvex dvieWi B.nA melancholy fear." Counterblaste (ed. Arber, iii); "And

909. matea] made helpless, as when is it not a great vanitie that a man

the king is mated at chess ; cf. Macbeth, cannot heartily welcome his friend now,

V. i. 86 : " My mind she has mated, but straight they must be in hand with

and amazed my sight." Tobacco?"

911. Full . . . respecting] full of <)zo. Jlap-mouth'd] In The Master of
consideration, and yet really considering Game(e&. 1909), "great lips and well

nothing. New Eng. Diet, cites Latimer, banging down " are mentioned among

Ploughers (Arber, 37): "He was not the points of "a running hound." See

moved by these worldlie respectes, with note in little Quarto ed. of Venus and

these prudente considerations ; and for Adonis, where Craig cites The Return

the verb, W. Wilkinson, Confut. Fam. from Parnassus, iv. 2 ; "begin thou,

Love, 16 b : "The cunnyng Archer Furor, and open like >■ phlap-mouthed

respecteth more to hitte the marke, hound."
than the curious watchyng of the cloven

VENUS AND ADONIS 49

Look, how the world's poor people are amazed 925

At apparitions, signs and prodigies.

Whereon with fearful eyes they long have gazed.

Infusing them with dreadful prophecies;

So she at these sad signs draws up her breath,

And, sighing it again, exclaims on Death. 930

" Hard-favour'd tyrant, ugly, meagre, lean.

Hateful divorce of love," — thus chides she Death, —

" Grim-grinning ghost, earth's worm, what dost thou mean

To stifle beauty and to steal his breath.

Who when he liv'd, his breath and beauty set 935

Gloss on the rose, smell to the violet?

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

Seeing his beauty, thou shouldst strike at it ; —

O yes, it may; thou hast no eyes to see.

But hatefully at random dost thou hit. 940

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

" Hadst thou but bid beware, then he had spoke.
And, hearing him, thy power had lost his power.
The Destinies will curse thee for this stroke ; 945

They bid thee crop a weed, thou pluck'st a flower:
Love's golden arrow at him should have fled,
And not Death's ebon dart, to strike him dead.

929. these] the Q lO. 931. Hard-favour' d\ hyphened in Qq 8, 9, 11-13.
940. random] randon Qq 1-4. 943. he had] had he Q 10. 946. pluck'st]
pluckst Qq 1-4, 10 ; pluckist The rest. 947. fied] sped Anon. conj.

928. Infusing] instilling ; used sped- 2 Henry IV. v. v. 39 ; cf. Kyd, Soliman

ally, says the New Eng. Did., of the and Perseda, I. i. Induction, 28, where

work of God in the imparting of grace, Death says: "Till I have raoralliz'd

and of nature in the implanting of innate this Tragedie Whose cheefest actor was

knowledge. "Infusing" is to be con- ray sable dart." But the meaning may

strued with "apparitions," etc.; the be "made of ebony"; cf. Spenser,

meaning may be that these fill men's Faerie Queene, i. Prol. : " Lay now

minds with forebodings rather than that thy deadly Heben bowe apart " ; and

they cause men to foretell disasters. ' ' Heben sad " is among the trees

Line 927 ("Whereon . , . gazed") "direful deadly black, both leaf and

seems to be parenthetical, though it is bloom " in the garden of Proserpina

implied that the continuance of the (Faerie Queene, 11. vii. 52). Malone

portents increases the fear. recalls "the well-known fiction of Love

930. exclaims on] upbraids, re- and Death sojourning together in an
proaches ; cf. 1 Henry VI. III. iii. 60 ; Inn, and on going away in the morning,
and Merchant of Venice, III. ii. 176. changing their arrows by mistake. See

933. worm]iexi^sa\., 3S,\n Antony and Whitney's Emblems, -p. I'^z," Boswell

Cleopatra, v. ii. passim ; Cymbeline, quotes Massinger, Virgin Martyr, iv.

III. iv. 37 : " slander ... whose tongue iii. 13: "Strange affection! Cupid

Outvenoms all the worms of Nile." once more hath changed his darts with

948. eboti] perhaps "black," as in Death, And kills instead of giving life. "

50 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

" Dost thou drink tears, that thou provok'st such weeping ?

What may a heavy groan advantage thee? 950

Why hast thou cast into eternal sleeping

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

Here overcome, as one full of despair, 955

She vail'd her eyelids, who, like sluices, stopp'd
The crystal tide that from her two cheeks fair
In the sweet channel of her bosom dropp'd ;

But through the flood-gates breaks the silver rain,
And with his strong course opens them again. 960

O, how her eyes and tears did lend and borrow !

Her eye seen in the tears, tears in her eye;

Both crystals, where they view'd each other's sorrow,

Sorrow that friendly sighs sought still to dry;

But like a stormy day, now wind, now rain, 965

Sighs dry her cheeks, tears make them wet again.

Variable passions throng her constant woe.

As striving who should best become her grief;

All entertain'd, each passion labours so

That every present sorrow seemeth chief, 970

But none is best : then join they all together.
Like many clouds consulting for foul weather.

By this, far off she hears some huntsman holloa ;

A nurse's song ne'er pleas'd her babe so well :

The dire imagination she did follow 975

This sound of hope doth labour to expel ;

For now reviving joy bids her rejoice.

And flatters her it is Adonis' voice.

Whereat her tears began to turn their tide,

Being prison'd in her eye like pearls in glass: 980

956. vaiFd] veiVd Lintott and Gildon ; wh6\ which Gildon. 962. Her eye]
Qq 1-3 ; Her eie Q 4 ; Her eies Q 8 ; Her eyes The rest, the (ears'] her teares
Qq 5-13. 967. throng] through Q 10. 968. who] Qq 1-4, which The
rest. g6g. passion labours]passions labour Cl/^. 971. all together] aliogither
Q 4, altogether Q 10. 973. holloa] hallow Qq 1-3, hollow The rest. 975.
dire] Qq 3, 6, 8, 9, 11-13 ; dyre Qq i, 2 ; rfry Qq 5, 7 ; drie Qq 4, 10.

952. Those . . . see] Cf. Romeo and hir favours are mortal, and the more
Juliet, I. V. 46: "O, she doth teach glistring, the more prejudicial!."

the torches to burn bright " (Malone). 956. vaiVd] lowered ; cf. Lusfs

953. mortal] destructive; cf. 1. 618; Dominion, I. iii. 4: " vailing my knees
and Greene, Perymedes the Blacksmith to the cold earth."

(Grosart, vii. 25) : " Thus everie way

VENUS AND ADONIS 51

Yet sometimes falls an orient drop beside,
Which her cheek melts, as scorning it should pass
To wash the foul face of the sluttish ground,
Who is but drunken when she seemeth drown'd.

O hard-believing love, how strange it seems 98 S-

Not to believe, and yet too credulous!

Thy weal and woe are both of them extremes ;

Despair, and hope, makes thee ridiculous :

The one doth flatter thee in thoughts unlikely.

In likely thoughts the other kills thee quickly. 990

Now she unweaves the web that she hath wrought;
Adonis lives, and Death is not to blame;
It was not she that call'd him all to nought:
Now she adds honours to his hateful name;

She clepes him king of graves, and grave for kings, 995

Imperious supreme of all mortal things.

" No, no," quoth she, " sweet Death, I did but jest ;
Yet pardon me, I felt a kind of fear
When as I met the boar, that bloody beast.
Which knows no pity, but is still severe ; 1000

Then, gentle shadow, — truth I must confess, —
I rail'd on thee, fearing my love's decease.

" 'Tis not my fault : the boar provok'd my tongue ;

Be wreak'd on him, invisible commander;

'Tis he, foul creature, that hath done thee wrong; 1005

I did but act, he's author of thy slander:

Grief hath two tongues; and never woman yet
Could rule them both without ten women's wit."

981 . sometimes'] Qq 1-4, sometime The rest. 988. makes'] Qq 1-4, make The
rest. 989. thoughts'] thought Q 10. 990. In likely] Qq i, 2 ; The likely
Qq 3, 4 ; With likely The rest. 991. hath] Qq 1-4, had The rest. 994.
honours] Q l , honors Qq 2-4, honour The rest. 996. Imperious] Qq 1-4 ;
Imperial Qq 5, 7 ; Imferiall The rest. 1002. my] thy Qq 3, 4.

981. orienf] bright. Eastern pearls 995. clepes\ calls ; cf. Harvey, Pierces

were the best; but see Harrison, Supererogation {GiossAy'n. ■2.';^ : "his

Description of England, III. xii. : eloquence passeth my intelligence, that

"They [pearls] are called orient, cleapeth himselfe a Callimanco for

because of the cleerenesse, which re- pleading his Companions cause."

sembleth the colour of the cleere aire 996. Imperious] imperial, as in

before the rising of the sun." Troilus and Cressida, iv. v. 172: "I

993. all to nought] utterly worthless, thank thee most imperious Agamem-

The phrase became vulgar; see Swift, non."

Mrs. Harris' Petition : "So she roar'd 996. supreme] So accented by Shake-
like a Bedlam, as tho' I had called her speare, except perhaps in Coriolanus,
all to nought." ni, i. no.

52 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Thus hoping that Adonis is alive,

Her rash suspect she doth extenuate; loio

And that his beauty may the better thrive,

With Death she humbly doth insinuate;

Tells him of trophies, statues, tombs, and stories
His victories, his triumphs and his glories.

"O Jove," quoth she, "how much a fool was 1 1015

To be of such a weak and silly mind

To wail his death who lives and must not die

Till mutual overthrow of mortal kind !

For he being dead, with him is beauty slain.

And, beauty dead, black chaos comes again. 1020

" Fie, fie, fond love, thou art as full of fear

As one with treasure laden, hemm'd with thieves;

Trifles unwitnessed with eye or ear

Thy coward heart with false bethinking grieves."

Even at this word she hears a merry horn, 1025

Whereat she leaps that was but late forlorn.

As falcons to the lure, away she flies;

The grass stoops not, she treads on it so light ;

And in her haste unfortunately spies

1013. staiues] statues Qq 3, 4 ; tombs'] domes Theobald conj. loij, 1014.
stories His] Malone (Theobald conj.); stories, His Qq. 1027. falcons']

Paulcons Qq 1-4 ; Falcon Qq 10, 12, 13 ; Faulcon The rest.

loio. suspect] suspicion ; cf. Amends used in manning {i.e. taming) falcons.

for Ladies (Hazlitt's Dodsley, xi. 108) : See Greene, Mamillia (Grosart, ii. 38) :

"And makes me kill my fond suspect "what entiseth the fish but the baite?

of her By assurance that she is loyal"; what calleth the byrde but the scrappe?

and Orlando Furioso (Grosart's Greene, what reclaimeth the hawke but the

xiii. 196): "Intending by suspect to lure?" ; zWrf. p. 21 : "hopingthat . . .

breed debate." he would so reclaime her with his

1012. insinuate] flatter (Malone) ; fained eloquence, as she should seaze

see Richard II. iv. i. 165 ; and As You upon his lure, and so cunningly cloake

Like It, Epilogue 9. her with his counterfaite cal as she

1019. For . . . slain] Malone com- should come to his fist " ; and Gascoigne

pares Romeo and Juliet, I. i. 222 : " O, (i. 87, Cambridge edition) : " Too late

she is rich in beauty ; only poor, That I found that gorged haukes do not

when she dies, with beauty dies her store." esteme the lure."

1026. leaps] sc. for joy ; cf. " laugh 1028. The . . . light] Here Steevens
and leap " in Lov^s Labour 's Lost, IV. quotes from memory Virgil, .iSn. vii.
iii. 148; and Merchant of Venice, I. i. 808, 809: "lUavel intactse segetis per
49; and "dance and leap," Richard summa volaret Gramina, nee teneras
II. II. iv. 12. cursu Itesisset aristas." This is itself

1027. lure] Here, no doubt, of the from Homer, //. xx. 222 seqq. ; cf.
falconer's call or whistle ; cf. Lyly (ed. Scott, Lady of the Lake, I. xviii, : " E'en
Bond, ii. 187): "Francis was not the slight harebell raised its head
sorrie, who began a little to listen to Elastic from her airy tread " ; and
the lure of love"; but usually of the Tennyson, Talking Oak: "The flower
bundle offeathers to which pieces of flesh she touch'd on dipt and rose And
were attached, representing a bird, and tum'd to look at her."

VENUS AND ADONIS 53

The foul boar's conquest on her fair delight; 1030

Which seen, her eyes, as murder'd with the view.
Like stars asham'd of day, themselves withdrew ;

Or, as the snail, whose tender horns being hit,
Shrinks backward in his shelly cave with pain,
And there all smother'd up in shade doth sit, 1035

Long after fearing to creep forth again ;

So, at his bloody view, her eyes are fled

Into the deep-dark cabins of her head:

Where they resign their office and their light
To the disposing of her troubled brain; 1040

Who bids them still consort with ugly night.
And never wound the heart with looks again ;
Who, like a king perplexed in his throne,
By their suggestion gives a deadly groan.

Whereat each tributary subject quakes; 1045

As when the wind, imprison'd in the ground.
Struggling for passage, earth's foundation shakes.
Which with cold terror doth men's minds confound.
This mutiny each part doth so surprise,
That from their dark beds once more leap her eyes ; 1050

And being open'd threw unwilling light

Upon the wide wound that the boar had trench'd

In his soft flank; whose wonted lily white

With purple tears, that his wound wept, was drench'd:

1031. as] Qq 3-9, 11-13; are Qq i, 2, lo. 1033. He] aQ 10. 1037.

Ais] this Hudson 1881 (S. Walker conj.). 1039. resign] resign' dlArAottanA

Gildon. 1040. her] their (^10. 1044. suggestion] suggestions Qi:\<), ii-i'^.

1048. terror] terrors Lintott; minds] mind Lintott. 1051. light] Qq I, z;

night Qq 3, 4 ; sight The rest. 1054. was] had Qq 1-4, 10.

1033. as the snair\Ci. Love's Labour's 10^6, lo^y. As, , .shakes]Sttl Henry
Lost, IV. iii. 338 : " Love's feeling is IV. III. i. 28-33, ^°<i Paradise Lost,
more soft and delicate Than are the tender i. 240, for wind as a source of earth-
horns of cockled snails." Malone cites quakes. On the next line Malone notes
Coriolanus, IV. vi. 45 : "Thrusts forth that Shakespeare may have spoken from
his horns again into the world Which experience, as there was an earthquake
were inshell'd when Marcius stood for in England in 1580, when he was
Rome. " sixteen.

1041. consort . . . night] See J?omeo 1052. trench'd] cut (Malone); see

and Juliet, 11. i. 32: "Come, he hath Two Gentlemen of Verona, ill. ii.

hid himself among these trees To be 7 : "as a figure Trenched in ice,

consorted with the humourous night " which with an hour's heat Dis-

(Malone). See also Midsummer- Night's solves '' ; and Macbeth, in, iv. 27 :

Dream, III. ii. 387: "They wilfully "With twenty trenched gashes on

exile themselves from light, And must his head."
for aye consort with black-brow'd night."

54 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

No flower was nigh, no grass, herb, leaf or weed, 1055
But stole his blood and seem'd with him to bleed.

This solemn sympathy poor Venus noteth ;

Over one shoulder doth she hang her head;

Dumbly she passions, franticly she doteth;

She thinks he could not die, he is not dead: 1060

Her voice is stopp'd, her joints forget to bow ;

Her eyes are mad that they have wept till now.

Upon his hurt she looks so steadfastly
That her sight dazzling makes the wound seem three;
And then she reprehends her mangling eye, 1065

That makes more gashes where no breach should be:

His face seems twain, each several limb is doubled;

For oft the eye mistakes, the brain being troubled.

" My tongue cannot express my grief for one,

And yet," quoth she, "behold two Adons dead! 1070

My sighs are blown away, my salt tears gone,

Mine eyes are turn'd to fire, my heart to lead:

Heavy heart's lead, melt at mine eyes' red fire!

j^r>- shall I die by dr ^p" r'f ^^^ H/'girp

" Alas, poor world, what treasure hast thou lost ! 1075

What face remains alive that's worth the viewing?
Whose tongue is music now? what canst thou boast
Of things long since, or any thing ensuing?

The flowers are sweet, their colours fresh and trim ;

But true-sweet beauty liv'd and died with him. 1080

" Bonnet nor veil henceforth no creature wear !

Nor sun nor wind will ever strive to kiss you:

Having no fair to lose, you need not fear ;

The sun doth scorn you, and the wind doth hiss you:

1066. more'] no Q 10. 1073. eyes' red fire !\ eyes red fire, Qq I, 2; eyes

red as fire Q 3 ; eies as red as fire, Q 4; eyes, as fire, Q 10; eyes, as fire: The
rest. 1078. tHng\ things Q 10. 1079. The] Thy Malone conj. 1080.
true-sweet] hyphened by Malone. with him] Qq I, 2 ; in him The rest.
1081. nor] Qq 1-4, or The rest. 1083. yoii] yee Q 10.

1078. ««i«2«;^] following, and so, per- Menaphon (vi. 123): "No frost their

haps, future ; cf. Richard III. 11. iii. faire, no wind doth wast their power,

43 : " By a divine instinct men's minds But by her breath her beauties doo

mistrust Ensuing dangers." renew"; Never Too Late {v'm. 200):

1083. fair] beauty ; cf. Greene, Jtfeta- " Flora in taunie hid up all her flowers,

morphosis (Grosart, ix. 25) : " Paris And would not diaper her meads with

for faire gave her the golden ball"; faire."

VENUS AND ADONIS 55

But when Adonis liv'd, sun and sharp air 1085

Lurk'd like two thieves, to rob him of his fair.

"And therefore would he put his bonnet on,
Under whose brim the gaudy sun would peep;
The wind would blow it off, and, being gone,
Play with his locks: then would Adonis weep; 1090

And straight, in pity of his tender years,
They both would strive who first should dry his tears.

"To see his face the lion walk'd along

Behind some hedge, because he would not fear him ;

To recreate himself when he hath sung, 1095

The tiger would be tame and gently hear him ;

If he had spoke, the wolf would leave his prey,
And never fright the silly lamb that day.

"When he beheld his shadow in the brook.

The fishes spread on it their golden gills; 1100

When he was by, the birds such pleasure took,

That some would sing, some other in their bills

Would bring him mulberries and ripe-red cherries;

He fed them with his sight, they him with berries.

"But this foul, grim, and urchin-snouted boar, 1105

Whose downward eye still looketh for a grave.
Ne'er saw the beauteous livery that he wore;
Witness the entertainment that he gave:

If he did see his face, why then I know

He thought to kiss him, and hath kill'd him so. mo

" 'Tis true, 'tis true ; thus was Adonis slain :
He ran upon the boar with his sharp spear.
Who did not whet his teeth at him again.
But by a kiss thought to persuade him there;

1093. walk'd] walks Lintott and Gildon. 1099. his] the Q 4. t!ie\ a Qq 6, 8,
9, 11-13. 1100. The] There Qq 9, 11; Their (^IJ,. iiii. 'Tis true,'iis
true] Tis true, true, true Qq 9, 11-13. II 13. did] Q, would The rest.

1094. /ear] frighten. Malone cites entertainment till Mine enemy has more
3 Henry VI. V. ii. 2: "For Warwick power."

was a bug that fear'd us all." wio. He . . . so] Steevens compares

1105. «?r/5««] hedgehog; see Topsel, Theocritus, Id. xxx. 26-31, which

Four-footed Beasts, p. 217: "in Calverly translated: "I [the boar]

English a Hedge -hog or an Ur- meant no mischief to the man Who

chine. " seemed to thee so fair. As on a carven

1 108. entertainment] reception; cf. statue Men gaze, I gazed on him; I

Tempest, I. ii. 465 ; "I will resist such seemed on fire with mad desire to kiss

that preferred limb."

56 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

And nuzzling in his flank, the loving swine 1115

Sheath'd unaware the tusk in his soft groin.

" Had I been tooth'd like him, I must confess,

With kissing him I should have kill'd him first;

But he is dead, and never did he bless

My youth with his ; the more am I accurst." 1 1 20

With this, she falleth in the place she stood,
And stains her face with his congealed blood.

She looks upon his lips, and they are pale;

She takes him by the hand, and that is cold ;

She whispers in his ears a heavy tale, 1125

As if they heard the woeful words she told ;
She lifts the coffer-lids that close his eyes.
Where, lo, two lamps, burnt out, in darkness lies;

Two glasses, where herself herself beheld

A thousand times, and now no more reflect ; 1 1 30

Their virtue lost, wherein they late excell'd,

And every beauty robb'd of his effect:

" Wonder of time," quoth she, " this is my spite.
That, thou being dead, the day should yet be light.

' ' Since thou art dea d. lOj here I prophesy. 1 1 3 5

Sorrow on l ove hereafter .shall atten d :
It35S9[„be waited on with jealfiusy,
Findsweef beginning lbut_ras^^ ;

JNe'efsettled equally, buFTiigh or low.

That all love's pleasure shall not match his woe. 1140

" It shall be fickle, false and full of fraud ;
Bud, and be blasted, in a breathing-while;

1115. nuzzling] Malone nousling, Qq. 1116. the\ Qi; his The rest.

1 120. youth] mouth Q 13 ; am /] Qq I, 2; I am The rest. 1122. congealed]
congealen Gildon. 1125. ears] eares Qq 1-3, eare The rest. 1 126. they]
Qq 1-4, he The rest. 1 1 30. times, and now] times and more, Theobald

conj. 1 134. thou^ Qq 1-3, you The rest. 1 136. on] in Q 4. 1 139.

but high] Qq 1-3, but hie Q 4, too high The rest, to high Gildon. 1 1 40. pleas-
ure] pleasures Lintott and Gildon. 1 142. Bud, and be] Qq 1-3, And shall
be The rest ; breathing-while] hyphened by Malone.

1 128. lies] For this form Steevens rhymes render it incurable." It is

cites Richard II. ni. iii. 168 ; and usually explained as a northern plural ;

Cymbeline, II. iii. 24. Prof. Case but see my note in Merchant of Venice,

reminds me that it was a very common i. iii, 161, in this series.
Elizabethan idiom, though some modern 1136-1140. Sorrow . . . woe] Cf.

editors have converted rime to blank Midsummer-Night's Dream, i. i. 134-

verse or prose by correcting it. Malone 140: "The course of true love never

goes so far as to lament that "in a did run smooth . . . O cross ! too high

very few places either the metre or the to be enthralled to low " (Steevens).

VENUS AND ADONIS 57

The bottom poison, and the top o'erstraw'd
With sweets that shall the truest sight beguile:

The strongest body shall it make most weak, 114S
Strike the wise dumb, and teach the fool to speak.

" It shall be sparing and too full of riot,

Teaching decrepit age to tread the measures;

The staring ruffian shall it keep in quiet.

Pluck down the rich, enrich the poor with treasures; 11 50
Tt shall be ragins;-ma '^ , ^"'^ flilly-"'"'^^.
Make the young old, the old become a c hild.

" It shall suspect where is no cause of fear ;

It shall not fear where it should most mistrust;

It shall be merciful and too severe, iiSS

And most deceiving when it seems most just;

Perverse it shall be where it shows most toward.
Put fear to valour, courage to the coward.

" It shall J)e_^use_ofjrar_and_dire events,

And, seJLdissension 'twixt the soiTa^Tsire; 11 60

Subject and servile to all discontents.

As dry combustious matter is to fire :

Sith in his prime death doth my love destroy.
They that love best their loves shall not enjoy."

By this the boy that by her side lay kill'd 1165

Was melted like a vapour from her sight,
And in his blood, that on the ground lay spill'd,
A purple flower sprung up, chequer'd with white.
Resembling well his pale cheeks and the blood
Which in round drops upon their whiteness stood. 1170

1144. truest] Qq 1-3, sharpest The rest. IISI. raging-mcuf\ hyphened by
Malone; silly-mild] hyphened by Malone. II57. ■where] when Lintott and

Gildon ; shows] showes Qq I, 2 ; shewes Q 3 ; shews Q 4 ; seems Qq 5, 7, 9, II ;
seemes Qq 6, 8, 10, 12, 13. 1164. loves] Qq 1-3, love The rest. 1168.

purple] purpld Q 3, purpuFd Q 4 ; chequer'd] checkred Qq.

1 146. teach . . . speak] Steevens jig, and full as fantastical, the wedding

suggested that there was here an mannerly modest as a measure full of

allusion to the story of Cymon and state and ancientry," etc.
Iphigenia in Boccaccio, Decameron, 1 149- staring] tn\c\i\ent. Among the

V. i. enormities with which Evans charged

1 148. tread the measures^ dance, Falstaff were " drinkings and swearings

Malone, who on Much Ado, 11. i. 74j andstarings" {Merry Wives, v. v. 168).
cites Richard II. in. iv. 1. See also 1 157' toward] willing, tractable. It

for the special character of the measure is opposed to ' ' froward " in Taming of

Much Ado, II. i. 77: "Wooing, wed- the Shrew, v. ii. 182: "'Tis a good

ding, and repenting, is as a Scotch jig, hearing when children are toward. —

a measure, and a cinque-pace : the But a harsh hearing when women are

first suit is hot and hasty, like a Scotch froward."

58 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

She bows her head, the new-sprung flower to smell,

Comparing it to her Adonis' breath;

And says, within her bosom it shall dwell,

Since he himself is reft from her by death :

She. crops the stalk, and in the breach appears 1175
Green-dropping sap, which she compares to tears.

" Poor flower," quoth she, " this was thy father's guise —

Sweet issue of a more sweet-smelling sire —

For every little grief to wet his eyes :

To grow unto himself was his desire, 1180

And so 'tis thine; but know, it is as good
To wither in my breast as in his blood.

" Here was thy father's bed, here in my breast ;
Thou art the next of blood, and 'tis thy right:
Lo, in this hollow cradle take thy rest; 1185

My throbbing heart shall rock thee day and night:
There shall not be one minute in an hour
Wherein I will not kiss my sweet love's flower."

Thus weary of the world, away she hies.

And yokes her silver doves; by whose swift aid 11 90

Their mistress, mounted, through the empty skies

In her light chariot quickly is convey'd ;

Holding their course to Paphos, where their queen
Means to immure herself and not be seen.

1 183. here in'\ Qq 1, 2 ; here is The rest. 1 185. Lo, in] Lmv in Q 4.

1 187. in'\ Qq 1-4, ^The rest.

LUCRECE

To the

Right Honourable, HENRY WRIOTHESLEY,
Earle of Southhampton, and Baron of Titchfield.

"T^HE loue I dedicate to your Lordship is without end: tvherof
this Pamphlet without beginning is but a superfluous
Moity. The warrant I haue of your Honourable disposition,
not the worth of my vntutord Lines makes it assured of accept-
ance. What I haue done is yours, what I haue to doe is yours,
being part in all I haue, deuoted yours. Were my worth
greater, my duety would shew greater, meane time, as it is, it
is bound to your Lordship; To whom I wish long life still
lengthned with all happinesse.

Your Lordships in all duety,

William Shakespeare.

THE ARGUMENT

Lucius Tarquinius, for his excessive pride surnamed
Superbus, after he had caused his own father-in-law Servius
Tullius to be cruelly murdered, and, contrary to the Roman
laws and customs, not requiring or staying for the people's
suffrages, had possessed himself of the kingdom, went,
accompanied with his sons and other noblemen of Rome,
to besiege Ardea. During which siege the principal men
of the army meeting one evening at the tent of Sextus
Tarquinius, the king's son, in their discourses after supper
every one commended the virtues of his own wife; among
whom Collatinus extolled the incomparable chastity of his
wife Lucretia. In that pleasant humour they all posted to
Rome; and intending, by their secret and sudden arrival,
to make trial of that which every one had before avouched,
only Collatinus finds his wife, though it were late in the
night, spinning amongst her maids: the other ladies were
all found dancing and revelling, or in several disports.
Whereupon the noblemen yielded Collatinus the victory,
and his wife the fame. At that time Sextus Tarquinius
being inflamed with Lucrece' beauty, yet smothering his
passions for the present, departed with the rest back to the
camp; from whence he shortly after privily withdrew him-
self, and was, according to his estate, royally entertained
and lodged by Lucrece at Collatium. The same night he
treacherously stealeth into her chamber, violently ravished
her, and early in the morning speedeth away. Lucrece, in

this lamentable plight, hastily dispatcheth messengers, one

63

64 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

to Rome for her father, another to the camp for Collatine.
They came, the one accompanied with Junius Brutus, the
other with Publius Valerius ; and finding Lucrece attired
in mourning habit, demanded the cause of her sorrow. She,
first taking an oath of them for her revenge, revealed the
actor and whole manner of his dealing, and withal suddenly
stabbed herself. Which done, with one consent they all
vowed to root out the whole hated family of the Tarquins ;
and bearing the dead body to Rome, Brutus acquainted the
people with the doer and manner of the vile deed, with a
bitter invective against the tyranny of the king : wherewith
the people were so moved, that with one consent and a
general acclamation the Tarquins were all exiled, and the
state government changed from kings to consuls.

LUCRECE

From the besieged Ardea all in post,

Borne by the trustless wings of false desire,

Lust-breathed Tarquin leaves the Roman host.

And to Collatium bears the lightless fire,

Which, in pale embers hid, lurks to aspire, S

And girdle with embracing flames the waist
Of Collatine's fair love, Lucrece the chaste.

Haply that name of " chaste " unhappily set

This bateless edge on his keen appetite;

When Collatine unwisely did not let lO

To praise the clear unmatched red and white

Which triumph'd in that sky of his delight,

Where mortal stars, as bright as heaven's beauties,
With pure aspects did him peculiar duties.

For he the night before, in Tarquin's tent, 15

Unlock'd the treasure of his happy state ;

What priceless wealth the heavens had him lent

In the possession of his beauteous mate;

Reckoning his fortune at such high proud rate,

That kings might be espoused to more fame, 20

But king nor peer to such a peerless dame.

8. unhappily] unhafly Q I. 19. smh high proud] hyphened by Malone,
so high a Qq 5-8. 21. peer] prince Qq 2-8.

5. aspire] arise, ascend ; cf. Merry Unbated is used of a foil without a
Wives, V. V. loi : "whose flames \s\iXXcia.\i\ Hatnlet, iv. vii. 139.
aspire As thoughts do blow them 10. let] forbear. The meaning and
higher and higher " ; used literally in construction is the same as in Wyclif,
Pericles, I. iv. 5: "For who digs Works { \'&%a), 313: "Here we may
hills because they do aspire Throws see openliche hou crist lettede not for
down one mountain to cast up a loue of petre to reproue hym sharp-
higher." See also Venus and Adonis, liche," cited in jVew ^k^. Diet.
150. 13. mortal stars] Malone compared

9. bateless] not to be blunted ; New Midsummer- Nighf s Dream, HI. ii.
Eng. Did. quotes Markham, Sir R. 188, and Romeo and Juliet, I. ii. 25. A
Grinuile, cv. : closer parallel is Taming of the Shrew,

"Sets a bateless edge, grownd by IV. v. 31 : "What stars do spangle
his word heaven with such beauty As those two

Vpon their blunt harts." eyes become that heavenly face?"

5

66 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

O happiness enjoy'd but of a few!

And, if possess'd, as soon decay'd and done

As is the morning's silver melting dew

Against the golden splendour of the sun ! 25

An expir'd date, cancell'd ere well begun :
Honour and beauty, in the owner's arms,
Are weakly fortress'd from a world of harms.

Beauty itself doth of itself persuade

The eyes of men without an orator; 30

What needeth then apologies be made,

To set forth that which is so singular?

Or why is Collatine the publisher

Of that rich jewel he should keep unknown

From thievish ears, because it is his own? 35

Perchance his boast of Lucrece' sovereignty

Suggested this proud issue of a king;

For by our ears our hearts oft tainted be:

Perchance that envy of so rich a thing.

Braving compare, disdainfully did sting 40

His high-pitch'd thoughts, that meaner men should
vaunt

That golden hap which their superiors want.

24. is] in Q 3, if Qq 5-8 ; morning's] morning Q i ; silver melting] hyphened
by Malone. 26. An . . . well] A date expir'd: and canceld ere Qq 5-8.
31. apologies] apfologie Q I. 42. That] The Qq 6-8.

23. done] consumed, as in Venus and Dumb eloquence, whose power

Adonis, 749: "wasted, thaw'd, and doth move the blood,

done, As mountain snow melts with More than the words or wisdom

the mid-day sun" (Malone). of the wise" (Malone).

26. date] Malone compares Daniel, 31. apologies] According to Schmidt,

Complaint of Rosamond (1592), 245- apology is here "evidently used in

249 : the sense of encomium, high praise,"

"Thou must not thinke thy flowre but the old meaning "defence" seems

can always fiorish, adequate ; such beauty as Lucretia's

Or that thy beauty will be still needed no vindication.

admir'd, 33. publisher] proclaimer, as in Two

But that those rayes which all Gentlemen of Verona, III. i. 47 :

these flames do nourish, " For love of you, not hate unto my

Cancell'd with time, will have friend, Hath made me publisher of this

their date expir'd." pretence."

29, 30. Beauty . . ■ orator] See 37. Suggested] tempted ; cf. Two

Ti&TatX, Complaint of Rosamond (!<,<)/[), Gentlemen of Verona, III. i. 34:

127-131 : " Knowing that tender youth is

' ' Ah, Beauty ! syren, fair enchanting soon suggested, I nightly lodge her

good, in an upper tower." So, sugges-

Sweet silent rhetorick of persuad- tion is temptation in Macbeth, i. iii.

ing eyes; 134-

LUCRECE

67

But some untimely thought did instigate

His all-too-timeless speed, if none of those :

His honour, his affairs, his friends, his state, 45

Neglected all, with swift intent he goes

To quench the coal which in his liver glows.

O rash-false heat, wrapp'd in repentant cold,

Thy hasty spring still blasts, and ne'er grows old !

When at Collatium this false lord arrived, 50

Well was he welcom'd by the Roman dame.
Within whose face beauty and virtue strived
Which of them both should underprop her fame :
When virtue bragg'd, beauty would blush for shame;

When beauty boasted blushes, in despite S5

Virtue would stain that o'er with silver white.

44. all-too-timeless] hyphened by Malone. 47. his] the Q 3 ; glows] growes
Qq 7, 8. 48. rash-false] hyphened by Malone. 56. o'er] Gildon, ore

Qq 1-3, or'e Q 4, ore Qq $-8.

Lucrece's complexion, or is it suggested
that she changed colour, welcoming
Tarquin with a blush of pleasure or
surprise ?

56. stain that o'er] spread her own
colour over beauty's red, that referring
ungrammatically to blushes. If we read
ore or or, i.e. the golden blush of beauty,
stain will probably mean surpass. See
note on Venus and Adonis, 1. 9.

56. o'er] Ore (Q i) occurs elsewhere,
e.g. 1. 170, for o'er. Ore in the
sense of gold may be the true reading,
and may jointly with " silver white "
be responsible for the references to

47. liver] the seat of desire. See
Tempest, IV. i. 56 ; Merry Wives, II.
i. 121 ; Much Ado, iv. i. 233.

49. spring] Malone compares Richard
III. III. i. 94 : " Short summers lightly
have a forward spring." Staunton
explains: "Thy premature shoots are
ever blighted." See 1. 950, and Venus
and Adonis, 1. 656.

49. blasts] suffers blight. New Eng.
Diet, cites Euphues (Arber, 236):
" The easterly winde maketh the
blossomes to blast."

52-70. The general sense is obvious.
Seeing Lucrece, one would hesitate to

say whether her face expressed more heraldry that follow. ^ATiere ore occurs
completely the perfection of beauty or
the perfection of virtue. But the course
of the thought is half hidden by a
bewildering play of fancy. There is no
open vision, nothing but a tumbling
kaleidoscope of hints and suggestions.
Nature's own red and white are identi-
fied or confounded with a, blush and its
fading. The transition to gold and
silver may be natural and was certainly
common, and these in turn suggest the
or and argent of heraldry, so that for a
moment we have a glimpse of Lucrece's
face as a blazoned shield for which
beauty and virtue are rival claimants.
The imagery suffers from the intrusion
of the idea of a shield used for defence,
and finally changes (in I. 71) to the lilies
and roses, lilia mixta rosis, of conven-
tion,

in modern edd.. All's Well, iii.
vi. 40 (ours Ff), and Hamlet iv. i.
25 \oare F i), it certainly means
gold or some other precious metal; it
could only mean gold here where it is
in contrast with silver. Malone quot-
ing the passage in Hamlet conjectures
"or i.e. gold, to which the poet com-
pares the deep colour of a blush. . . .
The terms of heraldry in the next
stanza," he adds, "seem to favour this
supposition : and the opposition between
or and the silver white of virtue is
entirely in Shakespeare's manner. So
afterwards : ' Which virtue gave the
golden age to gild Their silver cheeks.' "
Steevens gives another parallel, Macbeth,
II. iii. 118: " His «7zi«r skin laced with
his golden blood." Malone's conjecture
is read by Knight and Staunton, and
53-56. Is this a mere description of with a novel interpretation (stain it into

68

SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

But beauty, in that white intituled,
From Venus' doves doth challenge that fair field:
Then virtue claims from beauty beauty's red,
Which virtue gave the golden age to gild 60

Their silver cheeks, and call'd it then their shield;
Teaching them thus to use it in the fight,
When shame assail'd, the red should fence the white.

This heraldry in Lucrece' face was seen.
Argued by beauty's red and virtue's white:

65. beauty s . . . virtue's] Sewell, beauties . . . vertues Qq.

6S

or, or rather, make or by blending with
it) by Mr. Wyndham, who quotes
passages from Guillim's Display of
Heraldrie (1610), p. 9: "This colour
[white] is most commonly taken in
Blazon for the metal silver, and is
named Argent," and adds from the 2nd
ed. (1636): " it betokenth innocency,
cleanness of life and chastity," and ed.
1610, p. 10, on yellow : " This colour
is bright yellow, which is compounded
of much white and a little red, as if you
should take two parts of white and but
one of red. This colour in Armes is
blazed by the name of Or, which is as
much as to say aurum, which is gold."
Mr. Wyndham concludes: "When he
says : ' Virtue would stain that or with
silver white,' he means that Virtue, by
an admixture of ' silver white ' :— the
blazon of chastity (supra) with ' that '
= Beauty's blushes = Beauty's red of
1. jg ;_obtained, in accordance with
Heraldry, the 'mixed colour,' ffotd,
which is 'blazed by the name of Or.'
Virtue's white, mixed with Beauty's red,
has now produced heraldic or." It
may seem captious to suggest that the
resulting heraldic complexion, accord-
ing to Guillim, a bright yellow, is not
elsewhere in Shakespeare an evidence
of either beauty or virtue. In one
passage, ^ Henry IV. I. ii. 204, a yellow
cheek is associated with - moist eye,
and in another, Midsummer-Night' s
Dream, v. i. 339, with a cherry nose ;
but it certainly does not follow that
because Shakespeare uses "gild" and
" golden " figuratively of such things as
blood which is not yellow, that he
would have used it literally of cheeks
which may become so through the
ravages of disease or dissipation. A
more serious objection is that after the
staining takes place, the result is not
yellow but white, as we may gather from

the expressions " in that white inti-
tuled" (1. 57) and "that fair field " (1. 58),
while so far are the red and white from
blending " that oft they interchange each
other's seat " (I. 70). This is quite in
accordance with a parallel cited by
Steevens, Much Ado, iv. i. 160-164:
' ' I have mark'd A thousand blushing
apparitions To start into her face, a
thousand innocent shames In angel
whiteness bear away those blushes."

In support of the reading o'er, it may
be mentioned that gules rather than or
seems the proper blazon. See Sidney,
Astrophel and Stella, xiii. ;

" Cupid then smiles, for on his crest
there lies
Stella's fair haire, her face he

makes his shield.
Where roses gueuls are borne in
silver field."

57. intituled] Mr. Wyndham, deleting
the comma after intituled and placing it
after doves, explains : "But Beauty, also
intituled = formally blazoned in white
(which is virtue's colour) by derivation
from Venus' doves, doth challenge that
fair field = disputes Virtue's exclusive
right to a field, again the proper
heraldic term, of white." It is doubtful
if intituled can mean blazoned, and the
sense " entitled to " or " possessed of"
seems sufficient ; cf. Planetomachia
(Grosart's Greene, v. 5): "noble
mindes intituled with dignities should
retch as hie as the Skies." A similar
meaning may be extracted from the
original pointing — Beauty rightfully
possessed of a field of white claims it as
the livery of Venus doves.

58. challenge] claim, as in Othello,

II. i. 213.

65. Argued] proved ; cf. S Henry VI.

III. ii. 84 : " Her looks do argue her
replete with modesty."

LUCRECE 69

Of cither's colour was the other queen,
Proving from world's minority their right :
Yet their ambition makes them still to fight;
The sovereignty of either being so great,
That oft they interchange each other's seat. 70

This silent war of lilies and of roses,

Which Tarquin view'd in her fair face's field.

In their pure ranks his traitor eye encloses ;

Where, lest between them both it should be kiU'd,

The coward captive vanquished doth yield 75

To those two armies, that would let him go

Rather than triumph in so false a foe.

Now thinks he that her husband's shallow tongue,

The niggard prodigal that prais'd her so.

In that high task hath done her beauty wrong, 80

Which far exceeds his barren skill to show :

Therefore that praise which Collatine doth owe

Enchanted Tarquin answers with surmise,

In silent wonder of still-gazing eyes.

This earthly saint, adored by this devil, 85

Little suspecteth the false worshipper;

For unstain'd thoughts do seldom dream on evil ;

Birds never lim'd no secret bushes fear:

So guiltless she securely gives good cheer

And reverend welcome to her princely guest, 90

Whose inward ill no outward harm express'd:

84. still-gazing\ hyphened by Malone. 87. unstain'd thoughts] thoughts
unstain'd Qq 5-8. 90. reverend] reverent Dyce, ed. 2.

67. from world's minority] from the pays haste and leisure answers leisure " ;

days when the world was young, "the Comedy of Errors, iv. i. 82: "you

golden age " of 1. 60. Their right is as shall buy this sport as dear As all the

old as the doves of Venus and the first metal in your shop will answer " ; and

blush. 1 Henry IV. i. iii. 185 : "who studies

71. silent war] Cf. Taming of the day and night To answer all the debt he

Shrew, I v. v. 30: "Such war of red owes to you."

and white within her cheeks " 88. lim'd] caught by bird-lime ; cf.

(Steevens) ; and Venus and Adonis, Macbeth, IV. ii. 34 : " Poor bird ! thou

11- 34S> 346: "To note the fighting 'Idst never fear the net nor lime. The

conflict of her hue. How white and pitfall nor the gin." Steevens compares

red each other did destroy" (Malone). 3 Henry VI. v. vi. 13 : " The bird that

82. Therefore . . . owe] Malone hath been limed in a bush With trem-

notes : "Praise here signifies /& object bling wings misdoubteth every bush."

of praise, i.e. Lucretia. To owe in old 89. securely] without anxiety; cf.

\3.ng\x3jgt raea.ns to possess." But CoUa- Richard II. II. i. 266: "And yet we

tine may be said to owe praise in the strike not but securely perish " ; and

modern sense because he did not praise Ben Jonson, in Chester's Love's Martyr,

Lucrece to the full, and in the next line New Shaks. Soc. p. 186: "Man may

answers may mean pays, as in Measure securely sinne, but safely never."

for Measure, v. i. 415: "Haste still 90. reT)erend] Dyce ed. 2 reads

70 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

For that he colour'd with his high estate,

Hiding base sin in plaits of majesty;

That nothing in him seem'd inordinate,

Save sometime too much wonder of his eye, 95

Which, having all, all could not satisfy;

But, poorly rich, so wanteth in his store,

That, cloy'd with much, he pineth still for more.

But she, that never cop'd with stranger eyes.
Could pick no meaning from their parling looks, 100

Nor read the subtle-shining secrecies
Writ in the glassy margents of such books:
She touch'd no unknown baits, nor fear'd no hooks;
Nor could she moralize his wanton sight.
More than his eyes were open'd to the light. 105

He I stories to her ears her husband's fame,

Won in the fields of fruitful Italy;

And decks with praises Collatine's high name,

Made glorious by his manly chivalry

With bruised arms and wreaths of victory : 1 10

Her joy with heav'd-up hand she doth express.

And wordless so greets heaven for his success.

93. plaits\ Ewing, pleats Qq. loi. subtle-shining] hyphened by Malone.
105. open'd] open Q 3.

"reverent," which is of course the upon you? — Biondello, what of that ? —

meaning. Faith, nothing ; but has left me here

93. plaits] folds, as of a state robe, behind, to expound the meaning or

Steevens compares Lear, IV. vi. 169 : moral of his signs and tokens. — I pray

"Robes and furr'd gowns hide all," and thee, moralise them." Lucrece could

Boswell cites from the same play, I. i. see that Tarquin was looking, but not

283 : " Time shall unfold what plaited what his looks meant,

[plighted F l] cunning hides." no. bruised arms] dinted armour.

99. copi'd] encountered, had dealings Malone cites Richard III. I. i. 5, 6 :
with, usually in a hostile sense, as in " Now are our brows bound with
Venus and Adonis, 1. 888, but as here in victorious wreaths ; Our bruised arms
Hamlet, iii. ii. 60: "Horatio, thou hung up for monuments." See also
art e'en as just a man As e'er my con- Henry V. v. Prol. 18 : "His bruised
versation coped withal. " helmet and his bended sword " ; and

100. parling] speaking ; cf. TibuUus, Antony and Cleopatra, IV. xiii. 42 :

I. ii. 21; "nutus conferre loquaces." "bruised pieces," said of Antony's
It implies a desire to come to terms ; see armour.

Love's Labour's Lost, v. ii. 122; Tam- in. heav'd-up] uplifted; cf. Romeus

ing of the Shrew, I. i. 117 ; King John, and Juliet, Hazlitt's Shaks. Lib. p. 99:

II. i. 205. "And then with joyned hands heavd up
102. margents] margin, a metaphor into the skies He thanks the Gods";

from the summaries or explanatory ibid. p. 126 : " At length doth Juliet

comments in shoulder and side notes, heave fayntly up her eyes " ; and

Malone compares Romeo and Juliet, l. Herrick, Noble Numbers (Wks. ed.

iii. 86, axii Hamlet, v. ii. 162. Grosart, iii. p. 158): "Here a little

104. moralize] interpret, explain ; cf. child I stand Heaving up my either

Taming of the Shrew, IV. iv. 75-81 : hand ; Cold as Paddocks though they

" You saw my master wink and laugh be, Here I lift them up to Thee."

LUCRECE 71

Far from the purpose of his coming thither,

He makes excuses for his being there:

No cloudy show of stormy blustering weather 115

Doth yet in his fair welkin once appear ;

Till sable Night, mother of dread and fear,

Upon the world dim darkness doth display,
And in her vaulty prison stows the day.

For then is Tarquin brought unto his bed, 120

Intending weariness with heavy spright ;

For after supper long he questioned

With modest Lucrece, and wore out the night:

Now leaden slumber with life's strength doth fight;

And every one to rest themselves betake, 125

Save thieves and cares and troubled minds that wake.

As one of which doth Tarquin lie revolving

The sundry dangers of his will's obtaining;

Yet ever to obtain his will resolving.

Though weak-built hopes persuade him to abstaining: 130

Despair to gain doth traffic oft for gaining.

And when great treasure is the meed proposed.
Though death be 'adjunct, there's no death supposed.

Those that much covet are with gain so fond

That what they have not, that which they possess, 135

II7. mother] sad source Qq 5-8. 119. stews'] shuts Qq 5-8. 125. them-
selves betake] himself e betakes Q i. 126. wake] wakes Q i. 134. with] of
Gildon. 135. That what] Qq 1-4, That oft Qq 5-8, Of what Anon., For

what Capell MS. and Staunton conj.

116. welkin] sky ; cf. Grosart's 121. Intending] pretending, as in
Greene, viii. 68 ; " The Welkin had no Taming of the Shrew, iv. i. 206 : "amid
racke that seemd to glide, No duskie this hurly I intend That all is done in
vapour did bright Phoebus shroude"; reverent care of her."

and ix. 202 : " Her face was like to 122. questioned] conversed : see Mer-

Welkins shine"; and Forbonius and chant of Venice, iv. i. 70; and As You

Priscere (Shaks. Soc), p. 100: "Now Like It, III. iv. 39 (Malone).

like the sunne in welkin shines her 130. weak-built hopes] the fact that

face " ; where there is no trace of the his hopes have no sure foundation.

old meaning "cloud." 133. adjunct] Steevens compares

117. Till . . . fear] Cf. Daniel, King John, ui. iii. 57: "Though that
Complaint of Rosamond, ed. Chalmers, my death were adjunct of my act, By
p. 563,3 : "Com'd was the Night (mother heaven, I would do it."

of Sleep and Fear) Who with her 134. fond] infatuated, or perhaps

sable mantle friendly covers The sweet "eager for," as the New Eng. Did.

stoirn sport of joyful meeting lovers" explains it, citing Hulvet "Fonde or

(Malone). desierous."

119. stows] sets or places. No 135. That . . . possess] Ohscuie and

change is needed. It is used of the probably corrupt. Q 5's emendation is

mariners in Tempest, I. ii. 230, and of as good as any, and is explained by

Desdemona in Othello, l. ii. 62. 1. 136, viz, they have not [the enjoyment

72 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

They scatter and unloose it from their bond,
And so, by hoping more, they have but less ;
Or, gaining more, the profit of excess

Is but to surfeit, and such griefs sustain.

That they prove bankrupt in this poor-rich gain. 140

The aim of all is but to nurse the life

With honour, wealth, and ease, in waning age;

And in this aim there is such thwarting strife

That one for all or all for one we gage ;

As life for honour in fell battle's rage; 145

Honour for wealth; and oft that wealth doth cost

The death of all, and all together lost.

So that in vent'ring ill we leave to be

The things we are for that which we expect;

136. their\ the Qq 7, 8. 140. bankrupt^ Gildon, backrout Q i. 147. all
together\ Qq 7, 8; altogether Qq 1-6. 148. venfring] ventring^ I.

of] their money, for they are always For what thou hast tlwu still

risking it. Hudson's reading "For dost lacke:

what," etc., sounds abrupt: that must O mindes tormentor, bodies

be supplied before For ; viz. so fond wracke :

that they unloose what they possess Vaine promiser of that sweet

for the sake of what they have not, a reste,

bird in the hand for two in the bush. Which never any yet possest.'

Nicholson's conjecture "That while they ' Tam avaro deest quod habet, quam

have not that which they possess " fails quod non habet,' is one of the sentences

to dispose of the paradox, and besides of Publius Syrus."

"while" in the sense of whereas is 138. the projit of excess] the only ad-

probably post-Shakspearian. vantage ofhaving more than enough ; cf.

By placing a comma after have instead Two Gentlemen of Verona, III. i. 220 :

of after not, the rhythm is perhaps "I have fed upon this woe already,

improved and a. more natural order And now excess of it will make me

of thought secured — "That what they surfeit"; but the meaning of excess

have (not that which they possess) maybe "gain "or " interest "as in ^«r-

They scatter," etc. The money is chant of Venice, I. iii. 63: "I neither

theirs, but they cannot strictly be lend nor borrow By taking nor by giving

called its possessors, for it is not in of excess. "

their possession, being scattered and 144. gage] almost "risk,'' an exten-

unloosed. VS^ith the reading in the sion of the meaning "pledge."

text "have" must be regarded as a 147. all . . . lost] i.e. the loss of

stronger expression than "possess," and all.

this is Malone's view. He says, 148. in venfring ill] by making a
' ' Poetically speaking, they may be said bad bargain, such as an unluckly in-
to scatter what they have not, i.e. what vestment or unsuccessful voyage ; cf.
they cannot be /?%/)/ said to have ; what Z Henry IV. Epilogue, 12: "If like
they do not enjoy though possessed of it. an ill venture it come unluckily home,
. . . A similar phraseology is found in I break." Malone explained; "from
Daniel's i?0M?7;fl«(? (1592): 'As wedded an evil spirit of adventure, which
widows, wanting what we have.' prompts us to covet what we are not
Again, in Cleopatra, a tragedy by the possessed of."

same author, 1594 : 148. leave] leave off, cease ; cf. 1.

'their state thou ill definest, 1089, and Venus and Adonis, 422,

And liv'st to come, in present pinest ; 715.

LUCRECE 73

And this ambitious foul infirmity, 150

In having much, torments us with defect

Of that we have : so then we do neglect

The thing we have, and, all for want of wit.
Make something nothing by augmenting it.

Such hazard now must doting Tarquin make, 155

Pawning his honour to obtain his lust;

And for himself himself he must forsake:

Then where is truth, if there be no self-trust?

When shall he think to find a stranger just.

When he himself himself confounds, betrays 160

To slanderous tongues and wretched hateful days?

Now stole upon the time the dead of night.

When heavy sleep had clos'd up mortal eyes:

No comfortable star did lend his light,

No noise but owls' and wolves' death-boding cries ; 165

Now serves the season that they may surprise

The silly lambs : pure thoughts are dead and still,
While lust and murder wakes to stain and kill.

And now this lustful lord leap'd from his bed.

Throwing his mantle rudely o'er his arm; 170

Is madly toss'd between desire and dread ;

Th' one sweetly flatters, th' other feareth harm ;

But honest fear, bewitch'd with lust's foul charm.

Doth too too oft betake him to retire.

Beaten away by brain-sick rude desire. 175

IJI. defect] Probably the meaning is "Now o'er the one half-world

" the absence of what is really present " Nature seems dead, and wicked

rather than "something lacking to our dreams abuse

possessions.'' Rich men suffering from The curtain'd sleep : witchcraft

the disease of ambition are tortured by celebrates

the thought that they are destitute of Pale Hecate's offerings ; and

what they have, viz. abundance. wither'd murder,

154. Make . . . it] Cf. Macbeth, il. Alarum'd by his sentinel, the

i. 27: "So I lose none In seeking to wolf,

augment it " (Steevens). Whose howl's his watch, thus

157. ^K^ . . . forsake] Cf. Venus with his stealthy pace,

and Adonis, 1. i6i. With Tarquin's ravishing strides,

164. comforiable]coaiioxt\r\g,itte.r\gih- towards his design

ening, or supporting; cf. Richard II. Moves like a ghost."

II. ii. 76 : "for God's sake speak com- 174. retire] retreat, a substantive, as

fortable words " ; and Z«a?-, 11. ii. 172 : in Love's Labour's Lost, 11. i. 234:

" Approach, thou beacon to this under "All his behaviours did make their

globe. That by thy comfortable beams retire To the court of his eye " ; King

I may Peruse this letter." John, 11. i. 326: "Behold, From first

162-168.] Malone appositely cites to last the onset and retire Of both

Macbeth, u. \. i,<)-<;fi : your armies"; 1 Henry IV. II, iii.

74 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

His falchion on a flint he softly smiteth,
That from the cold stone sparks of fire do fly;
Whereat a waxen torch forthwith he lighteth,
Which must be lode-star to his lustful eye;
And to the flame thus speaks advisedly: i8o

"As from this cold flint I enforc'd this fire,
So Lucrece must I force to my desire."

Here pale with fear he doth premeditate

The dangers of his loathsome enterprise,

And in his inward mind he doth debate 185

What following sorrow may on this arise:

Then looking scornfully he doth despise

His naked armour of still-slaughter'd lust.
And justly thus controls his thoughts unjust:

"Fair torch, burn out thy light, and lend it not 190

To darken her whose light excelleth thine:
And die, unhallow'd thoughts, before you blot
With your uncleanness that which is divine:
Offer pure incense to so pure a shrine:

Let fair humanity abhor the deed 195

That spots and stains love's modest snow-white weed.

" O shame to knighthood and to shining arms !

O foul dishonour to my household's grave !

O impious act, including all foul harms !

A martial man to be soft fancy's slave ! 200

True valour still a true respect should have;

181. eitforc'd] enforce Q 8. 195. Lei\ Lest Schmidt conj.

54: "Thou hast talked Of sallies and plains " still - slaughtered " as "still-
retires, of trenches, tents " ; Coriolanus, slaughtering ; unless the poet means to
I. vi. 3 : "neither foolish in their describe it as a, passion that is always
stands nor cowardly in retire"; and a killing but never dies." But though
even in Keats, Endimion, i. 536 : we have in Pericles, I. i. 138 :
"frown A lion into growling, loth "Murder's as near to lust as flame to
retire. " smoke " (cf. Sonnets, cxxix. 3) , Steevens'

179. lodestar'] guiding star, usually explanation does not account for

but not always used of the pole star. New "naked." The meaning may be that

Eng. Diet, quotes Maundevile, xvii. lust is Tarquin's only defence against

180: "The sterre of the See, that is "the dangers of his loathsome enter-

unmevable and that is towarde the prise '' ■- he is as an unarmed man in

Northe that we clepen [call] the Lode battle sure of destruction.

Sterre." Steevenscomparesjl/«a!r«»!w«/-- 196. lugisrf] garment (Malone).

Night's Dream, I. i. 183: "Your eyes 200. tnartial man'] aoMier. See note

are lode-stars." on 1 Henry VI. I. iv. 74, in this series.

\Zo. advisedly] deliberately; cf. 200. /a«irjc] love, especially light love.

Merchant of 'Venice, v. i. 253. See examples in note on Merchant of

188. naked . . . lust] Steevens ex- Venice, ni. ii. 63, in this series.

LUCRECE 75

Then my digression is so vile, so base,
That it will live engraven in my face.

"Yea, though I die, the scandal will survive.

And be an eye-sore in my golden coat; 205

Some loathsome dash the herald will contrive,

To cipher me how fondly I did dote;

That my posterity, sham'd with the note,

Shall curse my bones, and hold it for no sin

To wish that I their father had not bin. 210

"What win I, if I gain the thing I seek?

A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.

Who buys a minute's mirth to wail a week?

Or sells eternity to get a toy?

For one sweet grape who will the vine destroy? 215

Or what fond beggar, but to touch the crown,
Would with the sceptre straight be stricken down?

" If Collatinus dream of my intent,

Will he not wake, and in a desperate rage

Post hither, this vile purpose to prevent? 220

This siege that hath engirt his marriage.

This blur to youth, this sorrow to the sage.
This dying virtue, this surviving shame.
Whose crime will bear an ever-during blame.

204. Yea] Yes Qq 6-8. 210. iin] Q's, ieene Q I. 217. stricken] stroke

Q I, stroken Qq 2-5, strucken Qq 6-8.

202. digression]ti&x\sgtession,oS&nce; be tinged or coloured, either tenne or

cf. digressing, i.e. ofFending, in Richard sanguine.' See also Guillim, A Display

II. V. iii. 66: "And thy abundant of Heraldry (6th ed., 1724, ch. x.

goodness shall excuse This deadly blot p. 457), where the language describing

in thy digressing son." the offence resembles Malone's."

206. loathsome dash] Malone vaguely 207. cipher] describe, express ; cf. 1.

says that "In the books of heraldry a 1396, and Greene, Friar Bacon (Wks.

particular mark ofdisgrace is mentioned, ed. Grosart, xiii. 51) '■ "My face held

by which the escutcheons of those pittie and content at once, And more I

persons were anciently distinguished could not sipher out by signes But that

who 'discourteously used a widow, I lovd Lord Lacie with my heart."

maid or wife against her will.'" Prof. 208. note] mark of disgrace, as in

Case writes: "The heralds devised Lov^s Labour's Lost, iv. iii. 125, v.

nine 'Abatements of Honour,' which, ii. 75 > Richard II. i. i. 43.

however, do not appear to have come 210. bin] In Daniel's Complaint of

into use. For the offence in question, Rosamond, 1. 761, we find this word

the abatement was 'an escutcheon re- riming to sin and kin, while in 1. 783

versed, sanguine, occupying the middle the form "beene " rimes to unseene.

point of the Escutcheon of arms.' See 212. dream] Cf. Sonnets, cy-siTi. 12:

A Complete Body of Heraldry (1760, "Before, a joy proposed; behind, a

vol. i. 169), by J. Edmondson, who adds dream."

that ' the several figures, when used as 224. ever-during] everlasting. Milton

Abatements of Honour, are not in any uses it of the gates of Heaven, Par.

wise to be of metal, but must invariably Lost, vii. 206.

76 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

"O what excuse can my invention make, 225

When thou shalt charge me with so black a deed?
Will not my tongue be mute, my frail joints shake,
Mine eyes forgo their light, my false heart bleed ?
The guilt being great, the fear doth still exceed ;

And extreme fear can neither fight nor fly, 230

But coward-like with trembling terror die.

" Had CoUatinus kill'd my son or sire,

Or lain in ambush to betray my life.

Or were he not my dear friend, this desire

Might have excuse to work upon his wife, 235

As in revenge or quittal of such strife:

But as he is my kinsman, my dear friend,
The shame and fault finds no excuse nor end.

" Shameful it is ; ay, if the fact be known :

Hateful it is; there is no hate in loving: 240

I'll beg her love ; but she is not her own :

The worst is but denial and reproving:

My will is strong, past reason's weak removing.
Who fears a sentence or an old man's saw
Shall by a painted cloth be kept in awe." 245

Thus graceless holds he disputation
'Tween frozen conscience and hot-burning will,
And with good thoughts makes dispensation.
Urging the worser sense for vantage still ;
247. hot-burmng] hyphened by Gildon.

229. «x««i^] is excessive ; usedabsol- p. 52: "Last she breathed out this

utely also in Much Ado, in. iv. 17. saw, Oh that love hath no law"; and

236. quitta[\ Requital is the form ibid. p. 128: "he sight [sighed] out

used elsewhere in Shakespeare. this old sayd sawe, Miserrimum est

239-241.] The clauses "Shameful it fuisse beatum."
is," "Hatefulit is,"and "butsheisnot 24^. painted cloth^ "In the old

her own " are italicised by Malone and tapestries or painted cloths many

"supposed to be spoken by some airy moral sentences were wrought. So,

monitor." The monitor is "frozen in If This Be not a Good Play the

conscience," 1. 247. See the travesty of iPra?'/ «V z»V, by Decker, i6i2 : 'What

such disputations in Merchant of Venice, says the prodigal child in the painted

II. ii. cloth?'" (Malone). See also As You
242. denial] refusal ; cf. 3 Henry VI. Like It, III. ii. 290 ; and Troilus and

III. iii. 130 : " Your grant or your Cressida, v. x. 46.

denial shall be mine." 248. makes dispensation] sets aside

244. j««/e««] maxim, ^t^ Much Ado, or dispenses with good thoughts, gives

II. iii. 249 ; Merchant of Venice, I. ii. himself a licence to neglect them.

II. 249. for vantage] in his own interests,

244. saw] saying, proverb. See As as if by gaining a commanding position.

You Like It, II. vii. 156; Twelfth See 1 Henry VI. iv. v. 28: "You

Night, in. iv. 413 ; Lear, II. ii. 167 ; fled for vantage, every one will swear ;

Never Too Late, Grosart's Greene, viii. But if I bow, they'll say it was for fear."

LUCRECE 17

Which in a moment doth confound and kill 250

All pure effects, and doth so far proceed
That what is vile shows like a virtuous deed.

Quoth he, "She took me kindly by the hand,

And gaz'd for tidings in my eager eyes.

Fearing some hard news from the warlike band, 255

Where her beloved Collatinus lies.

O, how her fear did make her colour rise!
First red as roses that on lawn we lay,
Then white as lawn, the roses took away.

"And how her hand, in my hand being lock'd, 260

Forc'd it to tremble with her loyal fear!

Which struck her sad, and then it faster rock'd,

Until her husband's welfare she did hear;

Whereat she smiled with so sweet a cheer

That had Narcissus seen her as she stood 265

Self-love had never drown'd him in the flood.

"Why hunt I then for colour or excuses?

All orators are dumb when beauty pleadeth ;

Poor wretches have remorse in poor abuses ;

Love thrives not in the heart that shadows dreadeth: 270

Affection is my captain, and he leadeth;

And when his gaudy banner is display'd,
The coward fights, and will not be dismay'd.

" Then, childish fear avaunt ! debating die !

Respect and reason wait on wrinkled age ! 275

251. effects] affects Steevens conj. 255. hard] had Q 6, bad Qq 7, 8.

260. how] now Qq 5-8. 262. struck] Ewing, strooke Qq. 268. pleadeth]

pleads Qq $-S. 2Jo. dreadeth] dreads Qq ^-S. 271. leadeth] leades Qq ^-S.
272. his] Qq 1-3, this Qq 4-8.

251. effects] Affects is conjectmed by Thou tremblest: and the whiteness

Steevens, who compares Othello, i. iii. in thy cheek Is apter than thy tongue

264: "the young affects In me de- to tell thy errand. "

funct." Malone, in defence of the text, 265. Narcissus] See Venus and Ad-

quotes Hamlet, ill. iv. 129: "Do not onis, 11. 161, 162. He was not drowned,

look upon me, Lest with this piteous 267. colotir] pretext, as in Winter's

action you convert My stern effects," Tale, IV. iv. 566: "What colour for

where he notes "effects, for actions, my visitation shall I Hold up before

deeds effected." But see Venus and him?"; Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv.

Adonis, 1. 605, and note there. ii. 3 : " Under the colour of commend-

258, 259.] Cf. Venus and Adonis, 1. ing him, I have access my own love to

590 (Malone). prefer"; and Grosart's Greene, xi. 283 :

262. Which] viz. the fact that " it is reported ... that you carry your

Tarquin trembled like a bearer of ill pack but for a colour to shadow \i,e,

news. See Z Henry IV. I. i. 67-69 : paint over] your other villanies."

"How doth my son and brother? 274-275. Then, .. affelSo in Xichard

78

SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

My heart shall never countermand mine eye:
Sad pause and deep regard beseems the sage;
My part is youth, and beats these from the stage:

Desire my pilot is, beauty my prize;

Then who fears sinking where such treasure lies ? " 280

As corn o'ergrown by weeds, so heedful fear

Is almost chok'd by unresisted lust.

Away he steals with open listening ear,

Full of foul hope and full of fond mistrust ;

Both which, as servitors to the unjust, 285

So cross him with their opposite persuasion,
That now he vows a league, and now invasion.

Within his thought her heavenly image sits.
And in the self-same seat sits Collatine:
That eye which looks on her confounds his wits;
That eye which him beholds, as more divine,
Unto a view so false will not incline;

276. mine] my Q 3.

///. IV. iii. 51 : "I have heard that
fearful commenting Is leaden servitor
to dull delay : . . . Then fiery expedi-
tion be my wing." " Respect " means
cautious prudence that coolly weighs
all consequences. So in Troilus and
Cressida, II. ii. 49: "reason and
respect Make livers pale and lustihood
deject" (Malone).

278. My part is youth] A particular
play may be referred to, but Lusty
Juventus, suggested by Steevens, con-
tains no such scene. In the Interlude
of Youth, Youth drives Charity from
the stage, but with threats, not blows.
Malone supposes Shakespeare was
thinking of the conflicts between the
Devil and the Vice in the old Mor-
alities, where the Vice was always
victorious and drove the Devil roaring
off the stage. But sad \i.e. solemn]
pause and deep regard would not roar.
Neither is Youth the same character as
the Vice. In conftitation of Malone's
statements regarding the Vice and the
Devil, Prof. Case quotes the following
passage from Gayley's Introduction to
Representative English Comedies {itjol),
p. li. : " About his [the Vice's] function
and habits, also, various misconceptions
have gathered. I have, for instance,
referred to Malone's statement that he
was a constant attendant upon the

290

Devil. Nothing could be more mis-
leading. The Devil appears in at least
two morals unattended by a Vice of any
kind, and the Vice appears in twenty-
five or thirty without a Devil. They
appear together in about eight that I
know of, and in only four can the Vice
be said to ' attend. ' That he eggs the
demons on to twit or torment the Devil,
I cannot discover in more than two
plays — Like will to Like and All for
Money. Since the days of Harsnet and
Ben Jonson it has been reported that
the Vice of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries made a practice of riding to
hell on the Devil's back. But I have
already pointed out that he does this in
only one play before 1580. The same
Like will to Like is the only play in
which he specifically ' belabours the
fiend.' I know of no other in which
that merriment was even likely to occur.
In fact, most of these attributions belong,
not to the Vice of the morals and inter-
ludes, but to one of the later substitutes
for him, the Vice-clown, such as Miles
in Friar Bacon, or Iniquity in The
Devil is an Ass."

290, 291. That . . . divine] Cf.
Troilus and Cressida, v. ii. 107 :
" Troilus, farewell ! one eye yet looks
on thee ; But with my heart the other
eye doth see."

LUCRECE 79

But with a pure appeal seeks to the heart,
Which once corrupted takes the worser part ;

And therein heartens up his servile powers, 295

Who, flatter'd by their leader's jocund show.

Stuff up his lust, as minutes fill up hours;

And as their captain, so their pride doth grow.

Paying more slavish tribute than they owe.

By reprobate desire thus madly led, 300

The Roman lord marcheth to Lucrece' bed.

The locks between her chamber and his will,

Each one by him enforc'd, retires his ward;

But, as they open, they all rate his ill.

Which drives the creeping thief to some regard : 305

The threshold grates the door to have him heard ;

Night-wandering weasels shriek to see him there ;

They fright him, yet he still pursues his fear.

As each unwilling portal yields him way.

Through little vents and crannies of the place 310

The wind wars with his torch to make him stay.

And blows the smoke of it into his face,

Extinguishing his conduct in this case;

But his hot heart, which fond desire doth scorch.
Puffs forth another wind that fires the torch: 315

296. flaiter'd\ Gildon, /iailredQq i, 2, 4 ; flattsred The rest. 301. marcheth']
Qq 1-4, doth march Qq 5-8. 307. Night-wandering] hyphened in Qq 3-8.

295. servile powers] The mortal in- with their hard naily soles The stones

struments of Julius Casar, n. i. 66, in Fleet Street."
where see note in this series. 307. night -wandering] The weasel's

303. ye^zVfii] draws back ; ci, Richard wanderings in houses are noted by the

//. II. ii. 46: "That he, our hope, elder Pliny, xxix. 4: "in domibusnostris

might have retir'd his power" (Ma- oberrat, et catulos suos . . . quotidie

lone). transfert, mutatque sedem." Thepara-

306. The . . . heard] To cause site in the Stichus of Plautus never

Tarquin to be heard, to give warning saw anything less stationary (in. ii.) :

of his coming, the threshold rasps, " Nam incertiorem nullam novi bestiam,

makes a jarring sound, against the door. Quaene et ipsa decies in die mutat

Somewhat similar uses of "grate " are locum.''

found in Pilgrimage to Paradise, 1592 313. conduct] guide, conductor. So

(N. Breton's Works, ed. Grosart), in Someo and Juliet, wA. 116: "Come,

12, a ; "They grate on crusts when bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide "

other men have dinde"; and Milton, (Malone). Cf. Daniel, Complaint of

/'an Zoj/, ii. 8S1 : "op'n file With im- Rosamond, 1. 583: "The Labyrinth

petuous recoile ayd jarring sound The she entred by that threed That serv'd

infernal dores, and on thir hinges grate a conduct to my absent Lord " ; and

Harsh Thunder." New Eng. Diet. Grosart's Greene, vi. 120 : " Love that

quotes The Black Booke, Middleton, ed. for my labors thought to guide me to

Bullen, viii. 8 : "And how they grate fancies pavillion, was my conduct to a

castle."

80 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

And being lighted, by the light he spies

Lucretia's glove, wherein her needle sticks:

He takes it from the rushes where it lies,

And griping it, the needle his finger pricks;

As who should say "This glove to wanton tricks 320

Is not inur'd ; return again in haste ;

Thou see'st our mistress' ornaments are chaste."

But all these poor forbiddings could not stay him ;

He in the worst sense consters their denial:

The doors, the wind, the glove, that did delay him, 325

He takes for accidental things of trial ;

Or as those bars which stop the hourly dial.

Who with a lingering stay his course doth let,
Till every minute pays the hour his debt.

"So, so," quoth he, "these lets attend the time, 330

Like little frosts that sometime threat the spring,

To add a more rejoicing to the prime.

And give the sneaped birds more cause to sing.

Pain pays the income of each precious thing ;

Huge rocks, high winds, strong pirates, shelves and
sands, 335

The merchant fears, ere rich at home he lands."

319. needle] neeld Malone. 324. consters'] Qq I, 2, construes The rest.

331. sometime] sometimes Q 3.

318. rashes] These or sweet-smelling 85 : " I'll make a ghost of him that
herbs were used as carpets in old lets me " ; Grosart's Greene, iii. 147 :
English houses; cf. Cymbeline, II. ii. "What shall I hide from my friend
13; "Our Tarquin thus Did softly saith Homer? Or what letteth that
press the rushes." See also Taming of I may not thinke my selfe alone when
the Shrew, iv. i. 48 ; and Romeo and I am with him ? " ; and ibid. xiii. 222 :
Juliet, I. iv. 36. " But if the Lambe should let the

319. needle] Malone here reads neeld, Lyon's way, By my advise the Lambe
and neelds in Midsummer - Nigh fs should lose her life." Below, 1. 330,
Dream, III. ii. 204, comparing Pericles, lets are impediments ; cf. Henry V. v. ii.
V. Gower, 1. 5: "and with her neeld 65 : "my speech entreats That I may
composes Nature's own shape, of bud, know the let, why gentle Peace Should
bird, branch, or berry." not expel these inconveniences."

Neeld is found in Fairfax's Tasso, 333. sneaped] probably "pinched

Jerusalem Delivered, xx. xcv. 8 : "see with cold." See Love's Ldbout's Lost,

(he cry'd) ... for thee fit weapons I. i. 100 : " an envious sneaping frost

were Thy neeld and spindle, not a That bites the first-born infants of the

sword and spear." In Gammer Curton' s spring." Also in Winter's Tale, J. ii.

Needle, the viord is geaeraily neele. 13: "sneaping winds." Malone says

327. dial] clock or watch. New sneaped is checked. He cites S Henry
Eng. Diet, cites T. Washington tr. IV. 11. i. 133 : " My lord, I will not
Nicholafs Voy. I. xvii. 19, h (1585): undergo this sneap without reply."
"The Ambassadour sent his presents 335. shelves] sandbanks or ledges of
. . . one small clock or dyall " ; and rock. See Daniel, Rosamond, 98, 99 :
As You Like It, 11. vii. 20. "Ah me (poore wench) on this un-

328. f^yJff] which, referring to "bars." happy shelf I grounded me, And cast
328 let] hinder ; cf. Hamlet, I. iv. away my selfe,"

LUCRECE 81

Now is he come unto the chamber door,

That shuts him from the heaven of his thought,

Which with a yielding latch, and with no more,

Hath barr'd him from the blessed thing he sought. 340

So from himself impiety hath wrought.

That for his prey to pray he doth begin.
As if the heavens should countenance his sin.

But in the midst of his unfruitful prayer.

Having solicited the eternal power 345

That his foul thoughts might compass his fair fair,

And they would stand auspicious to the hour,

Even there he starts : quoth he, " I must deflower :

The powers to whom I pray abhor this fact ;

How can they then assist me in the act? 350

" Then Love and Fortune be my gods, my guide !

My will is back'd with resolution :

Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried;

The blackest sin is clear'd with absolution ;

Against love's fire fear's frost hath dissolution. 355

The eye of heaven is out, and misty night
Covers the shame that follows sweet delight."

This said, his guilty hand pluck'd up the latch,

And with his knee the door he opens wide.

The dove sleeps fast that this night-owl will catch : 360

Thus treason works ere traitors be espied.

Who sees the lurking serpent steps aside;

But she, sound sleeping, fearing no such thing,

Lies at the mercy of his mortal sting.

Into the chamber wickedly he stalks _ 365

And gazeth on her yet unstained bed.

347. rfsy] ,^f Steevens conj. 351. my guide] and guide Q^ "; . 352. with]
with dauntless Capell MS.

341. So . . . wrought] His sin has heaven have any grievous plague in
made him so unlike himself. store ... O let them keep it till thy

342. prey . . . pray] Steevens re- sins be ripe " ; and iv. iv. 72 :
marks that "A jingle not less disgusting "Richard yet lives, hell's black in-
occurs in Ovid's narration of the same telligencer, Only reserved /'/ie/r factor."
event, Fasti^ II. 787 : ' Hostis, ut 349. fact] .deed, especially used of- a
hospes, iuit penetralia CoUatina.'" crime.

347. they] Steevens conjectures he, 356. out] Cf. Macbeth, . 11, i. 5 :

which, he says, we must read or "There's husbandry in heaven: Their

"acknowledge the want of grammar." candles are all out." The sun is called

The alternative is pre^ferable, and "the eye of heaven'' in Richard II.

Malone parallels the inaccuracy from I. iii. 275, in. ii. 37 ; and . Titus

Richard III. I. iii. 217, 219 : " If Andronicus, IV. ii. 59.
6

82 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

The curtains being close, about he walks,

Rolling his greedy eyeballs in his head :

By their high treason is his heart misled ;

Which gives the watch-word to his hand full soon 370
To draw the cloud that hides the silver moon.

Look, as the fair and fiery-pointed sun,

Rushing from forth a cloud, bereaves our sight;

Even so, the curtain drawn, his eyes begun

To wink, being blinded with a greater light : 375

Whether it is that she reflects so bright,

That dazzleth them, or else some shame supposed;

But blind they are, and keep themselves enclosed.

O, had they in that darksome prison died !

Then had they seen the period of their ill ; 380

Then Collatine again, by Lucrece' side,

In his clear bed might have reposed still:

But they must ope, this blessed league to kill;
And holy-thoughted Lucrece to their sight
Must sell her joy, her life, her world's delight. 385

Her lily, hand her rosy cheek lies under,

Cozening the pillow of a lawful kiss ;

Who, therefore angry, seems to part in sunder.

Swelling on either side to want his bliss;

Between whose hills her head entombed is : 390

Where, like a virtuous monument, she lies,
To be admired of lewd unhallow'd eyes.

Without the bed her other fair hand was.

On the green coverlet, whose perfect white

Show'd like an April daisy on the grass, 395

With pearly sweat, resembling dew of night.

Her eyes, like marigolds, had sheath'd their light,

371. the silver] this silver S. Walker conj. 372. fiery -pointed] hyphened
by MsXane., fire-ypointed Steevens conj.

371. draw] draw aside, as in Troilus ii. 32 : " O sleep, thou ape of death,
and Cressida, in. ii. 49 : " Come, draw lie dull upon her ! And be her sense
this curtain, and let's see your picture." but as a monument Thus in a chapel

372. fiery-pointed] Steevens quotes lying " (Steevens) ; and AlPs Well
Milton, On Shakespear, 1. 4 : " Under that Ends Well, IV. ii. 6 : "If the
a Star-ypointing Pyramid " in favour quick fire of youth light not your
of his conjecture " fire-ypointed." mind, You are no maiden, but a monu-

375. wink] close, as is clear from ment."

11. 378 and 383. See 1. 458, and Venus 397. like marigolds] See Winter's

arid Adonis, 11. 90 and 121. Tale, IV. iv. 105 ; " The marigold that

391. monument] Cf. Cymbeline, II. goes to bed wi' the sun."

LUCRECE 83

And canopied in darkness sweetly lay,
Till they might open to adorn the day.

t-Ier hair, like golden threads, play'd with her breath; 400

modest wantons ! wanton modesty !

Showing life's triumph in the map of death,

And death's dim look in life's mortality:

Each in her sleep themselves so beautify

As if between them twain there were no strife, 405
But that life liv'd in death and death in life.

Her breasts, like ivory globes circled with blue,
A pair of maiden worlds unconquered,
Save of their lord no bearing yoke they knew.
And him by oath they truly honoured. 410

These worlds in Tarquin new ambition bred ;
Who, like a foul usurper, went about
From this fair throne to heave the owner out.

What could he see but mightily he noted?

What did he note but strongly he desired? 415

What he beheld, on that he firmly doted,

And in his will his wilful eye he tired.

With more than admiration he admired

Her azure veins, her alabaster skin.

Her coral lips, her snow-white dimpled chin. 420

As the grim lion fawneth o'er his prey.
Sharp hunger by the conquest satisfied.
So o'er this sleeping soul doth Tarquin stay.
His rage of lust by gazing qualified;

419. alabaster^ Q 6, alablaster The rest.

398. canopied in darkness] Cf. 408, 409. A . . . kneTv] Malone

Cymbeline, 11. ii. 18-22: "the flame compares Ovid, Fasti, ii. 803, 804:

o' the taper Bows toward her, and " Effugiat ? positis urguentur pectora

would under-peep her lids, To see the palmis. Nunc primum externa pectora

enclosed lights now canopied Under tacta manu." Steevens ascribed to

these windows." "Amner" a criticism of "maiden,"

402. map] representation, picture, which has been repeated in substance

See Never Too Late, Grosart's Greene, by some modern commentators,

viii. 39: "Her countenance is the 413. ^rase] thrust or drive ; cf. ^jVj/

verie map of modestie " ; and Orpharion, Part of the Contention, v. i. 22 :

ibid. xii. 14: "I see thy thoughts to "And heave proud Somerset from out

be full of passions, and thy face the map the Court" ; and 1. 39 : " To heave the

ofsorrowes, the true notes of a lover." Duke of Somerset from thence."

Malone cites Richard II. v. i. 12: 424. ^«a/^«rf] tempered, moderated ;

"map of honour," ». phrase which cf. Two Gentlemen of Verona, II. vii.

occurs also in S Henry VI. in. i. 203 ; 22 : " I do not seek to quench your

cf. "map of ^oe," Titus Andronictis, love's hot fire But qualify the fire's

III. ii. 12. extreme rage."

84 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Slack'd, not suppress'd; for standing by her side, 425

His eye, which late this mutiny restrains.
Unto a greater uproar tempts his veins :

And they, like straggling slaves for pillage fighting.
Obdurate vassals fell exploits effecting,
In bloody death and ravishment delighting, 430

Nor children's tears nor mothers' groans respecting.
Swell in their pride, the onset still expecting :
Anon his beating heart, alarum striking,
Gives the hot charge, and bids them do their liking.

His drumming heart cheers up his burning eye, 435

His eye commends the leading to his hand;

His hand, as proud of such a dignity.

Smoking with pride, march'd on to make his stand

On her bare breast, the heart of all her land;

Whose ranks of blue veins, as his hand did scale, 440
Left their round turrets destitute and pale.

They, mustering to the quiet cabinet

Where their dear governess and lady lies,

Do tell her she is dreadfully beset.

And fright her with confusion of their cries : 445

She, much amaz'd, breaks ope her lock'd-up eyes,
Who, peeping forth this tumult to behold.
Are by his flaming torch dimm'd and controU'd.

Imagine her as one in dead of night

From forth dull sleep by dreadful fancy waking, 450

That thinks she hath beheld some ghastly sprite.
Whose grim aspect sets every joint a-shaking ;
What terror 'tis ! but she, in worser taking,
From sleep disturbed, heedfully doth view
The sight which makes supposed terror true. 455

439. breasf] breasts Qq 5-8.

428. straggHng\ Usually said con- affect or meditate fell exploits, they are
temptuously, e.g. of camp followers or supposed to be actually engaged in
banditti. See Richard III. v. iii. 327 carnage."

(stragglers) ; Timon of Athens, v. i. 436. commends'] entrusts, commits ;

7 ; and Greene's Orlando Furioso, 1. cf. Lov^s Labour's Lost, III. i. 169 :

177: "what is Orlando, but a "And to her white hand see thou do

stragling mate ? " commend This seal'd-up counsel " ;

429. effecting] Steevens's conjecture, Henry VI I L v. i. 17: "I love you ;
"affecting," is needless, as Malone And durst commend a secret to your
showed by the context. Tarquin's ear."

veins are awaiting the onset, 1. 432, 442. cabinet] See note on Venus and
but "the slaves here mentioned do not Adonis, 1. 854.

LUCRECE 85

Wrapp'd and confounded in a thousand fears,

Like to a new-kill'd bird she trembling lies ;

She dares not look; yet, winking, there appears

Quick-shifting antics, ugly in her eyes :

Such shadows are the weak brain's forgeries; 460

Who, angry that the eyes fly from their lights,
In darkness daunts them with more dreadful
sights.

His hand, that yet remains upon her breast, —

Rude ram, to batter such an ivory wall 1 —

May feel her heart, poor citizen ! distress'd, 465

Wounding itself to death, rise up and fall,

Beating her bulk, that his hand shakes withal.

This moves in him more rage and lesser pity,
To make the breach and enter this sweet city.

First, like a trumpet, doth his tongue begin 470

To sound a parley to his heartless foe;

Who o'er the white sheet peers her whiter chin.

The reason of this rash alarm to know.

Which he by dumb demeanour seeks to show ;

But she with vehement prayers urgeth still 475

Under what colour he commits this ill.

Thus he replies: "The colour in thy face.
That even for anger makes the lily pale
And the red rose blush at her own disgrace,

469. the breach] his breach Q 3. 472. Who] When Q 3.

459. antics] grotesque figures ; all his bulk, And end his being." See
perhaps a metaphor from the stage : also Golding's Gvid, viii. 998 : " Her
Giesae's James IV. opens with a dance skinne was starched and so sheere a
of "Antiques." That they were ugly man might well espye The very bowels
is sufficiently clear from a passage in in her bulk how every one did lye."
Toxophilus (Arber, p. 67): "To go 471. heartless] disheartened, timid;
on a man his tiptoes, stretching cf. Romeo and Juliet, I. i. 73; "What,
out th' one of his armes forwarde, art thou drawn among these heartless
the other backwarde, which if he blered hinds ? "

out his tunge also, might be thought to 475. prayers] a dissyllable, as it

dance Anticke verye properlie." usually is in Elizabethan English ; cf.

460. shadows] forms, pictures. See Daniel, Delia, xi. 11. i, 2, 11 : "Tears,
note on Merchant of Venice, 11. ix. 65, vowes, and prayers winne the hardest
in this series. hart," etc.

467. bulk] frame, body. See Richard 476, 477. colour] Steevens notes the

///. I. iv. 40 : " But smother'd it same play on the same words in ^

within my panting bulk Which almost Henry IV. v. v. 91: "This that you

burst." Malone compares Hamlet, 11. heard was but a colour. — A colour that I

i. 95 : " He raised a sigh so piteous and fear you will die in. Sir John." See

profound That it did seem to shatter also note on 1. 267, ante.

86 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Shall plead for me and tell my loving tale : 480

Under that colour am I come to scale

Thy never-conquer'd fort: the fault is thine,
For those thine eyes betray thee unto mine.

" Thus I forestall thee, if thou mean to chide :
Thy beauty hath ensnar'd thee to this night, 485

Where thou with patience must my will abide ;
My will that marks thee for my earth's delight,
Which I to conquer sought with all my might ;
But as reproof and reason beat it dead.
By thy bright beauty was it newly bred. 490

" I see what crosses my attempt will bring ;

I know what thorns the growing rose defends;

I think the honey guarded with a sting ;

All this beforehand counsel comprehends:

But will is deaf and hears no heedful friends; 49S

Only he hath an eye to gaze on beauty.
And dotes on what he looks, 'gainst law or duty.

" I have debated, even in my soul,

What wrong, what shame, what sorrow I shall breed ;

But nothing can affection's course control, Soo

Or stop the headlong fury of his speed.

I know repentant tears ensue the deed,

Reproach, disdain and deadly enmity;

Yet strive I to embrace mine infamy."

This said, he shakes aloft his Roman blade, 505

Which, like a falcon towering in the skies,
Coucheth the fowl below with his wings' shade.
Whose crooked beak threats if he mount he dies :
So under his insulting falchion lies

Harmless Lucretia, marking what he tells $10

With trembling fear, as fowl hear falcon's bells.

482. never-conquet^d] hyphened in Qq 3, 4- 49°- "'"•f. «''] '^ '^"^ Ql 3-8-
491. attempt^ attempts Qq 5-8. 507. his\ her Anon. conj.

493. / . . . sting], I ain aware that 507. CouchetK\ causes to crouch^; cf.

the honey is guarded with a sting Timon of Athens, II. 11. 181 : one

(Malone). cloud of winter showers, These flies

500. affection s'\ desire's or passion's, are couch'd." The intransitive use is

See Much Ado, u. iii. 106: "She loves more common^.^. Alfs Well, IV. 1.

him with an enraged affection: it is 24: " But couch, ho ! here he comes,
past the infinite of thought"; King ^ii. as . . . iells] Steevens cites

John, V. ii. 41 : "And great affections S Henry VI. I. 1. 47= nor he that

wrestling in thy bosom Doth make an loves him best . . . Dares stir a wing

earthquake of nobility. " if Warwick shake his bells.

LUCRECE 87

"Lucrece," quoth he, "this night I must enjoy thee:

If thou deny, then force must work my way,

For in thy bed I purpose to destroy thee:

That done, some worthless slave of thine I'll slay, S 1 5

To kill thine honour with thy life's decay;

And in thy dead arms do I mean to place him.
Swearing I slew him, seeing thee embrace him.

" So thy surviving husband shall remain

The scornful mark of every open eye; 520

Thy kinsmen hang their heads at this disdain.

Thy issue blurr'd with nameless bastardy:

And thou, the author of their obloquy,

Shalt have thy trespass cited up in rhymes

And sung by children in succeeding times. 525

" But if thou yield, I rest thy secret friend :

The fault unknown is as a thought unacted;

A little harm done to a great good end

For lawful policy remains enacted.

The poisonous simple sometime is compacted 530

In a purer compound; being so applied.

His venom in effect is purified.

"Then, for thy husband and thy children's sake,

Tender my suit: bequeath not to their lot

The shame that from them no device can take, 535

The blemish that will never be forgot;

Worse than a slavish wipe or birth-hour's blot:
For marks descried in men's nativity
Are nature's faults, not their own infamy."

Here with a cockatrice' dead-killing eye 540

He rouseth up himself, and makes a pause;

530. sometime] sometimes Qq 6-8. 531. a pure compound] purest com-

poundes Qq 5-8. 540. dead-killing] hyphened in Qq 3, 4.

522. nameless]3snulliusjilius. See xiv. 304: "And like a father that

Two Gentlemen of Verona, III. i. 319- affection beares So tendred he the

323 (Malone). poore with inward teares."

530. compacted] compounded. In 537. wipe] More disgraceful than the

Venus and Adonis, 1. 149, occurs the brand with which slaves were marked

older and correct form compact. (Malone).

534. Tender] Deal kindly with, i.e. 540. cockatrice] otherwise called basi-

do not reject ; cf. Carde of Fancie, lisk. It is fully described in Topsell's

Grosart's Greene, iv. 165 : " The young History of Serpents, pp. 677-681, where

Storkes so tender the old ones in their the power of its eye is specially noted :

age, as they will not suffer them so "Among all living creatures there is

much as to flie to get their owne none that perisheth sooner than doth

living " ; and A Maiden's Dreame, ibid, a man by the poyson of a Cockatrice,

88

SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

While she, the picture of true piety,

Like a white hind under the gripe's sharp claws,

Pleads, in a wilderness where are no laws,

To the rough beast that knows no gentle right, 545

Nor aught obeys but his foul appetite.

But when a black-faced cloud the world doth threat.
In his dim mist the aspiring mountains hiding.
From earth's dark womb some gentle gust doth get,
Which blows these pitchy vapours from their biding, 550
Hindering their present fall by this dividing;
So his unhallow'd haste her words delays.
And moody Pluto winks while Orpheus plays.

Yet, foul night-waking cat, he doth but dally,

While in his hold-fast foot the weak mouse panteth: 555

543. under] beneath Qq 5-8. 547. Buf] As Sewell, Look, Malone (Capell

MS.). 548. mountains] mountaine Qq 5-8. 549. dark womb] hyphened

in Qq 1-3. 550. blows] Malone, blow Qq.

for with his sight he killeth him, be-
cause the beams of the Cockatrices eyes
do corrupt the visible spirit of a man,
which visible spirit corrupted, all the
other spirits coming from the brain and
life of the heart, are thereby corrupted,
and so the man dyeth : even as ... a
Wolf suddenly meeting a Man, taketh
from him his voyce, or at the least-wise
maketh him hoarse." See also Selimus,
1673-1686 (Grosart's Greene, xiv.
290) : " From out their egges [those of
the Ibides] riseth the basiliske, Whose
only sight killes millions of men . . .
But as from Ibis springs the Basiliske
Whose only touch burneth up stones
and trees ; So Selimus hath prov'd a
Cocatrice." For Shakespeare's refer-
ences, see Twelfth Night, III. iv. 215 ;
Richard HI. IV. i. 55 ; Romeo and
Juliet, III. ii. 47.

543. gripe] " The gryphon was
meant," says Malone, " which in our
author's time was usually written grype
or gripe." Cotgrave has " Griffon m. a
Gripe or Griffon." Steevens, though
he refers to Cotgrave, quotes Reed's
Dodsley, i. 124, "where gripe seems
to be used for vulture": "Ixion's
wheel Or cruell gripe to gnaw my
growing harte " ; and Jonson, Alchemist,
II. i. : "let the water in glass E be
filter'd And put into the gripe's egg,"
and suggests that " perhaps anciently
those birds which are remarkable for
griping their prey in their talons were

occasionally called gripes." That
vultures were called gripes is clear
from the complaint of Turner (1544),
De Historia Avium, Cambridge ed. , p.
178, that the vulture is wrongly called
gryps, "quum gryps sit 'a griffin,'
animal ut creditur volatile & quad-
rupes"; but vultures do not prey on
living animals, and Shakespeare may
here refer to the eagle. The bird of
Prometheus was an eagle and is often
called "gripe," as by Sydney, Astrophel
and Stella, xiv. : " Upon whose breast
a fiercer Gripe doth tire Than did on
him who first stale down the fire " ; and
by Greene, Mourning Garment (ed.
Grosart, ix. 183) : " Fie upon such
Gripes as cease not to prey upon poore
Prometheus untill they have devoured
up his very entrailles." See, however,
" vulture folly," I. 556.

547. But] Malone read Look on the
grounds that there is "no opposition
whatsoever between this and the pre-
ceding passage" and that "Look"
often introduces a simile, as in 11. 372,
694, and Venus and Adonis, 67, 289,
815 ; but Boswell explains, rightly, " He
knows no gentle right, but still her
words delay him, as a gentle gust blows
away a black-faced cloud."

552. delays] delay. See Abbott's
Shakesperian Grammar, pp. 235-237,
and note on Venus and Adonis, 1. 1 1 28,
ante.

LUCRECE 89

Her sad behaviour feeds his vulture folly,
A swallowing gulf that even in plenty wanteth ;
His ear her prayers admits, but his heart granteth
No penetrable entrance to her plaining:
Tears harden lust, though marble wear with raining. 560

Her pity-pleading eyes are sadly fixed

In the remorseless wrinkles of his face;

Her modest eloquence with sighs is mixed,

Which to her oratory adds more grace.

She puts the period often from his place, 565

And midst the sentence so her accent breaks
That twice she doth begin ere once she speaks.

She conjures him by high almighty Jove,
By knighthood, gentry, and sweet friendship's oath,
By her untimely tears, her husband's love, 570

By holy human law and common troth,
By heaven and earth, and all the power of both,
That to his borrow'd bed he make retire.
And stoop to honour, not to foul desire.

Quoth she: "Reward not hospitality 575

With such black payment as thou hast pretended ;

572. power] powers Qq 7, 8.

557. wantethyis\aiN3,-Bi.;cf. Eafhues midst of sentences. Throttle their

his Censure to Philautus, Grosart's practised accent in their fears, And in

Greene, vi. 260: "it is possible to conclusion dumbly have broke oflf."

want others, having this wisdom ; but 569. gentry] good birth, but perhaps

to possess none, if this be absent." implying nobility of character or man-

559. penetrable] perhaps connoting ners, as in Hamlet, n. ii. 22: "gentry

pity or tenderness ; cf. Hamlet, iii. iv. and good will " ; and Greene, Mena-

36: "And let me wring your heart; phon (ed. Grosart, vi. 79): "his

for so I shall, If it be made of pene- lookes in shepheard's weede are Lordlie,

trable stuff." Contrast "impenetrable" his voyce pleasing, his wit full of

used of Shylock, Merchant of Venice, gentrie " ; and Quippe for an Upstart

III. iii. 18. Courtier (xi. 267): "he holdeth not

562. remorseless wrinkles] pitiless the worth of his Gentry to be &
frown. For " remorseless " see ,? ^ifKrc consist in velvet breeches."
VI. III. i. 213: "And as the butcher 576. pretended] proposed, intended;
takes away the calf . . . Even so zi. Princlie Mirrour of Peereles Modestie,
remorseless have they borne him Grosart's Greene, iii. 14: "each of
hence " ; and for " wrinkle," King them carefuUie conjecturing by what
yb^K, II. i. 505 :" the frowning vreinkle meanes hee might bring to pass his
of her brow," and Richard II . II. i. pretended journey"; ibid. p. 75:
170 : "sour my patient cheek Or "neither shall these painted speeches
bend one wrinkle on my sovereign's prevaile against our pretended pur-
face." pose " ; and Second Part of Conny Catch-

565-567. She . . . speaks] Steevens ing (x. 83): "under that colour of

compares Midsummer-Nights Dream, carelesnes doe shadow their pretended

V. i. 96-98: "make periods in the knavery."

90 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Mud not the fountain that gave drink to thee;
Mar not the thing that cannot be amended ;
End thy ill aim before thy shoot be ended ;

He is no woodman that doth bend his bow 580

To strike a poor unseasonable doe.

" My husband is thy friend ; for his sake spare me :
Thyself art mighty ; for thine own sake leave me :
Myself a weakling ; do not then ensnare me :
Thou look'st not like deceit; do not deceive me. 585

My sighs, like whirlwinds, labour hence to heave thee:
If ever man were mov'd with woman's moans,
Be moved with my tears, my sighs, my groans:

"All which together, like a troubled ocean,

Beat at thy rocky and wreck-threatening heart, 590

To soften it with their continual motion ;

For stones dissolv'd to water do convert.

O, if no harder than a stone thou art,

Melt at my tears, and be compassionate!

Soft pity enters at an iron gate, 59S

" In Tarquin's likeness I did entertain thee :

Hast thou put on his shape to do him shame?

To all the host of heaven I complain me.

Thou wrong'st his honour, wound'st his princely name.

Thou art not what thou seem'st ; and if the same, 600

Thou seem'st not what thou art, a god, a king;

For kings, like gods, should govern every thing.

" How will thy shame be seeded in thine age.

When thus thy vices bud before thy spring!

If in thy hope thou dar'st do such outrage, 605

What dar'st thou not when once thou art a king ?

590. wreck-threatening^ wracke-threatning Q^ i, 2.

579. j,4rai;] shot, act of shooting. See woodman, ha? Speak I like Heme
Toxophilus, ed. Arber, p. 146: "An the hunter?"

other I sawe, whiche at everye shoote, 586. hewve\ See note on 1. 413.

after the loose, lyfted up his ryght 592. converi] are turned or changed

legge so far, that he was ever in into ; cf. ^«ir/5 ^(^0, 1, i. 1 23 :" Courtesy

jeoperdye of faulyng." Cf. Love's itself must convert to disdain, ^ if you

Labour's Lost, IV. i. 10 ; and Z Henry come much in her presence " ; and

IV. III. ii. 49. Richard IL v. i. 66: "The love of

580. woodman'] sportsman ; used of a wicked men converts to fear ; That
hunter in Cymbeline, III. vi. 28 : " Vou, fear to hate."

Polydore, have proved best woodman 602. govern] control. See 11. 624,
and Are master of the feast." Cf. 625: "Hast thou command ? . . .
Merry Wives, v. v. 30: "Am I a command thy rebel will."

LUCRECE 91

O, be remember'd, no outrageous thing

From vassal actors can be wip'd away ;
Then kings' misdeeds cannot be hid in clay.

"This deed will make thee only lov'd for fear; 6io

But happy monarchs still are fear'd for love:
With foul offenders thou perforce must bear,
When they in thee the like offences prove :
If but for fear of this, thy will remove ;

For princes are the glass, the school, the book, 615
Where subjects' eyes do learn, do read, do look.

" And wilt thou be the school where Lust shall learn ?

Must he in thee read lectures of such shame?

Wilt thou be glass wherein it shall discern

Authority for sin, warrant for blame, 620

To privilege dishonour in thy name?

Thou back'st reproach against long-living laud,
And mak'st fair reputation but a bawd.

" Hast thou command ? by him that gave it thee,

From a pure heart command thy rebel will : 625

Draw not thy sword to guard iniquity.

For it was lent thee all that brood to kill.

Thy princely office how canst thou fulfil.

When, pattern'd by thy fault, foul sin may say

He learn'd to sin and thou didst teach the way ? 630

'Think but how vile a spectacle it were,
To view thy present trespass in another.
Men's faults do seldom to themselves appear ;
Their own transgressions partially they smother :

607. reinembei' d\ Malone, remembred Qq. 6io. wiir\ shall Qq 5-8.

616. subjects'^ subject Q 3.

607. be remember' d\ remember, do 629. paiiern'cl] using it as a pre-
not forget. See As You Like It, m. v. cedent ; cf. Measure for Measure, II. i.
131: "And, now I am remember'd, 30: "When I that censure him do so
scorn'd at me"; and Taming of the offend, Let mine own judgment pattern
Shrew, IV. iii. 96: "Marry, and did ; out my death, And nothing come in
but if you be remember'd, I did not bid partial." See also Winter's Tale, III.
you mar it to the time." ii. 37: "which is more Than history

608. vassal actors'] subjects who do can pattern."

it. 634. partially'] showing favour, using

615. ^/ajj] Malone compares ^/?««?y partiality, as in Othello, II. iii. 2i8 :

/F'. II. iii. 31 : " He was the mark and "If partially affined or leagued in

glass, copy and book. That fashion'd office. Thou dost deliver more or less

others." than truth. Thou art no soldier."

92 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

This guilt would seem death-worthy in thy brother. 635
O, how are they wrapp'd in with infamies
That from their own misdeeds askance their eyes!

"To thee, to thee, my heav'd-up hands appeal,

Not to seducing lust, thy rash relier:

I sue for exil'd majesty's repeal ; 640

Let him return, and flattering thoughts retire:

His true respect will prison false desire.

And wipe the dim mist from thy doting eyne.
That thou shalt see thy state and pity mine."

"Have done," quoth he: "my uncontrolled tide 645

Turns not, but swells the higher by this let.

Small lights are soon blown out, huge fires abide.

And with the wind in greater fury fret:

The petty streams that pay a daily debt

To their salt sovereign, with their fresh falls' haste 650
Add to his flow, but alter not his taste."

"Thou art," quoth she, "a sea, a sovereign king;

And, lo, there falls into thy boundless flood

Black lust, dishonour, shame, misgoverning,

Who seek to stain the ocean of thy blood. 655

If all these petty ills shall change thy good.

Thy sea within a puddle's womb is hearsed.
And not the puddle in thy sea dispersed.

" So shall these slaves be king, and thou their slave ;
Thou nobly base, they basely dignified ; 660

Thou their fair life, and they thy fouler grave:
Thou loathed in their shame, they in thy pride :
The Issser thing should not the greater hide ;

The cedar stoops not to the base shrub's foot.

But low shrubs wither at the cedar's root. 665

651. to his\ Qq I, 2 ; to t/ie Q ^ ; to this Qq 4-8. not his] not the Qq 7, 8.
665. low shrubs'] hyphened in Qq I, 2.

637. askance] turn. See Abbott, 646, let] See note on 1. 328.

Shakes. Gram. p. 5. 657. hearsed] confined as in a coffin ;

639. thy rash relier] "which con- cf. Merchant of Venice, III. i. 93;
fides too rashly in thy present disposi- Hamlet, I. iv. 47. For a history of
tion and does not foresee its necessary the word, see Skeat, Etymological Diet.
change " (Schmidt). 659. So . . . slave] Malone com-

640. repeal] recall from banishment, pares Lear, IV. iii. 16 : "It seem'd she
See Coriolanus, IV. vii. 32 : " Their was a queen Over her passion ; who,
people Will be as rash in the repeal, as most rebel-like, Sought to be king o'er
hasty To expel him thence." her."

LUCRECE 93

" So let thy thoughts, low vassals to thy state " —
"No more," quoth he; "by heaven, I will not hear thee:
Yield to my love; if not, enforced hate.
Instead of love's coy touch, shall rudely tear thee :
That done, despitefully I mean to bear thee 670

Unto the base bed of some rascal groom,
To be thy partner in this shameful doom."

This said, he sets his foot upon the light.

For light and lust are deadly enemies :

Shame folded up in blind concealing night, " 675

When most unseen, then most doth tyrannize.

The wolf hath seiz'd his prey, the poor lamb cries ;
Till with her own white fleece her voice controll'd
Entombs her outcry in her lips' sweet fold :

For with the nightly linen that she wears 680

He pens her piteous clamours in her head.

Cooling his hot face in the chastest tears

That ever modest eyes with sorrow shed.

O, that prone lust should stain so pure a bed !

The spots whereof could weeping purify, 685

Her tears should drop on them perpetually.

But she hath lost a dearer thing than life.
And he hath won what he would lose again :
This forced league doth force a further strife;
This momentary joy breeds months of pain ; 690

This hot desire converts to cold disdain:
Pure Chastity is rifled of her store.
And Lust, the thief, far poorer than before.

Look, as the full-fed hound or gorged hawk.

Unapt for tender smell or speedy flight, 695

Make slow pursuit, or altogether balk

The prey wherein by nature they delight,

So surfeit-taking Tarquin fares this night:
His taste delicious, in digestion souring.
Devours his will, that liv'd by foul devouring. 700

684. prone] Qq I, ^, 4 ; proud Q 3 ; foule Qq 5-8. 698. fares] feares Qq

677. The . . , m«j] The same figure 691. converts] See note, I. 592.
is used by Ovid, J^asii, ii. 800 : "lUa 696. *fl//4] miss or let slip ; of. Twelfth

nihil: . . . Sed tremit, ut quondam Night, m. ii. 26: "This was look'd

stabulis deprensa relictis, Parva sub for at your hand, and this was balk'd :

infesto cum jacet agna lupo " (Ma- the double gilt of this opportunity you

lone). let time wash off."

94 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

O, deeper sin than bottomless conceit

Can comprehend in still imagination !

Drunken Desire must vomit his receipt,

Ere he can see his own abomination.

While Lust is in his pride, no exclamation 705

Can curb his heat or rein his rash desire,
Till, like a jade, Self-will himself doth tire.

And then with lank and lean discolour'd cheek.

With heavy eye, knit brow, and strengthless pace,

Feeble Desire, all recreant, poor and meek, 710

Like to a bankrupt beggar wails his case:

The flesh being proud, Desire doth fight with Grace,

For there it revels, and when that decays.

The guilty rebel for remission prays.

So fares it with this faultful lord of Rome, 715

Who this accomplishment so hotly chased ;

For now against himself he sounds this doom.

That through the length of times he stands disgraced :

Besides, his soul's fair temple is defaced.

To whose weak ruins muster troops of cares, 720

To ask the spotted princess how she fares.

She says her subjects with foul insurrection

Have batter'd down her consecrated wall.

And by their mortal fault brought in subjection

Her immortality, and made her thrall 725

To living death and pain perpetual :

Which in her prescience she controlled still,
But her foresight could not forestall their will.

709. knit hrow\ hyphened in Qq I, 2. 711. bankruff] Gildon, banckrout

Qq 1-4, bankerout Qq 5-8.

701. bottomless conceif] boundless i. 133: " anger is like A full-hot horse,

imagination. who being allow'd his way. Self-mettle

703. receipt'] As in Coriolanus, I. i. tires him " (Steevens). A similar

116 : "it tauntingly replied To the dis- passage is in Julius Ccesar, IV. ii. 23 :

contented members, the mutinous parts ' ' But hollow men, like horses hot at

That envied his receipt." hand, Make gallant show and promise

705. exclamation] Perhaps here, as of their mettle : But when they should

often, reproach rather than "outcry." endure the bloody spur. They fall their

In /J/«fA.4(&, III. V. 28, Dogberry, who crests, and like deceitful jades, Sink

has just comprehended two auspicious in the trial. "

persons, says: "I hear as good ex- 716. accomplishment] Almost "act"

clamation on your worship as of any or " event," the fulfilment of his desire,

man in the city. " See also King John, A somewhat similar use is found in

II. i. 558: "Yet in some measure Henry V. I. Prologue, 30: "Turning

satisfy her so That we shall stop her the accomplishment [events] of many

exclamation." years Into an hour-glass."

707. like a jade] Cf. Henry VIII, I.

LUCRECE 95

Even in this thought through the dark night he stealeth,
A captive victor that hath lost in gain; 730

Bearing away the wound that nothing healeth,
The scar that will, despite of cure, remain ;
Leaving his spoil perplex'd in greater pain.
She bears the load of lust he left behind,
And he the burthen of a guilty mind. 735

He like a thievish dog creeps sadly thence;

She like a wearied lamb lies panting there;

He scowls, and hates himself for his offence;

She, desperate, with her nails her flesh doth tear ;

He faintly flies, sweating with guilty fear; 740

She stays, exclaiming on the direful night;

He runs, and chides his vanish'd, loath'd delight.

He thence departs a heavy convertite;

She there remains a hopeless cast-away;

He in his speed looks for the morning light; 745

She prays she never may behold the day,

" For day," quoth she, " night's 'scapes doth open lay.
And my true eyes have never practis'd how
To cloak offences with a cunning brow.

" They think not but that every eye can see 750

The same disgrace which they themselves behold ;

And therefore would they still in darkness be.

To have their unseen sin remain untold ;

For they their guilt with weeping will unfold.

And grave, like water that doth eat in steel, 755

Upon my cheeks what helpless shame I feel."

Here she exclaims against repose and rest,

And bids her eyes hereafter still be blind.

She wakes her heart by beating on her breast,

And bids it leap from thence, where it may find 760

729. Even] Eu'n Q i. dark night] hyphened in Qq 1-3.

741. exclaiming on] denouncing, your stubborn usage of the pope ; But

crying out against. See note on Venus since you are a gentle convertite, My

■ and Adonis, 1. 930. tongue shall hush again the storm of

743. convertite] penitent. See As war."
youLikeIt,v.i\.it)0: " The duke hath 747. 'scapes] misdeeds; cf. Greene's

put on a religious life. ... To him Metamorphosis, ed. Grosart, ix. 47 :

will I : out of these convertites There " blaming the gods that would suffer

is much matter to be heard and learn'd"; such a gigglet to remaine in heaven

Bxid King John, \ . i. 19: "It was my repeating her lawlesse loves with Adonis^

breath that blew this tempest up Upon and her scapes with Mavors."

96 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Some purer chest to close so pure a mind.

Frantic with grief thus breathes she forth her spite
Against the unseen secrecy of night:

" O comfort-killing Night, image of hell !

Dim register and notary of shame! 765

Black stage for tragedies and murders fell !

Vast sin-concealing chaos ! nurse of blame !

Blind muffled bawd ! dark harbour for defame !
Grim cave of death! whisp'ring conspirator
With close-tongued treason and the ravisher! 770

" O hateful, vaporous and foggy Night !

Since thou art guilty of my cureless crime,

Muster thy mists to meet the eastern light.

Make war against proportion'd course of time ;

Or if thou wilt permit the sun to climb 775

His wonted height, yet ere he go to bed,
Knit poisonous clouds about his golden head.

"With rotten damps ravish the morning air;

Let their exhal'd unwholesome breaths make sick

The life of purity, the supreme fair, 780

Ere he arrive his weary noon-tide prick ;

And let thy musty vapours march so thick

766. murders'] Gildon, murthers Qq. 768. for] of Qq 6-8. 778. rolten
damps] rotting damp Q 3. 782. musty] mustie Qq I, 2 ; mystie Qq 3, 4 ; mysty
Qq 5, 6 ; misty Qq 7, 8. vapours] vapour Q 3.

761. dose] enclose. New. Eng. Diet, this centre Observe degree, priority,

cites Paston Letters, 'i^o. 5, i. 19: "I and place, Insisture, course, proportion,

send you copies . . . closed with this season, form, Office, and custom, in all

bille"; and Bacon, Sylva, § 343: line of order."
" Fruit closed in Wax, keepeth fresh." 779, 780. Let . . . fair] So in Lear,

766. Black . . . tragedies] "In our 11. iv. 168: "Infect her beauty. You

author's time, I believe, the stage vi^as fen-suck'd fogs" (Steevens). For

hung with black when tragedies were "supreme" see the list of words

performed" (Malone). Steevens, on 1 variously accented, in Schmidt, Shaks.

Henry VI. I. i. I cites Sidney, Arcadia, Lex. p. 1415, a.

bk. ii. ; "There arose even with the 781. arrive] arrive at, reach; as in

sun, a vail of dark clouds before his Julius Casar, i ii. 1 10 ; and Milton,

face, which shortly, like ink poured Paradise Lost, ii. 409 : " ere he arrive

into water, had blacked over all the The happy isle."

face of heaven, preparing as it were a 781. weary rwon-tideprick]%ie.m\n^y

mournful stage for a tragedy to be so called from the hour-marks on the

played on." For other illustrations, dial. %t.& Romeo and Juliet, l\.'vi.\l<).

see Hart's 1 Henry VI. in this series, Steevens compares 3 Henry VI. I. iv.

768. defa?ne] disgrace; cf. 11. 817, 34: "Now Phaethon hath tumbled

1033. from his car, And made an evening at

y y 4. proportion' d]regu\sx 01c legulzted the noon-tide prick."
interchange of day and night. Propor- 782. musty] musty may be right ; it

tion seems to mean order or regularity is quite in keeping with the context,

in Troilus and Cressida, I. iii. 87 : " The " rotten damps," etc.
heavens themselves, the planets, and

LUCRECE 97

That in their smoky ranks his smother'd light
May set at noon and make perpetual night.

"Were Tarquin Night, as he is but Night's child, 785

The silver-shining queen he would distain ;

Her twinkling handmaids too, by him defil'd.

Through Night's black bosom should not peep again :

So should I have co-partners in my pain;

And fellowship in woe doth woe assuage, 790

As palmers' chat makes short their pilgrimage.

" Where now I have no one to blush with me,

To cross their arms and hang their heads with mine.

To mask their brows and hide their infamy ;

But I alone alone must sit and pine, 795

Seasoning the earth with showers of silver brine.

Mingling my talk with tears, my grief with groans,
Poor wasting monuments of lasting moans.

" O Night, thou furnace of foul-reeking smoke,

Let not the jealous Day behold that face 800

Which underneath thy black all-hiding cloak

Immodestly lies martyr'd with disgrace !

Keep still possession of thy gloomy place,

That all the faults which in thy reign are made
May likewise be sepulchred in thy shade! 805

" Make me not object to the tell-tale Day !
The light will show, character'd in my brow,

783. ranks] rackes Q 3, 786. silver-sMmng] hyphened by Gildon. he . . ,
distain] he . . . disdaine Qq 5, 6, 8 ; Ae . , . disdain Q 7 ; him . . . disdain
Sewell. 79I- palmers' chat makes] Palmers that make Qq 3, 8 ; Palmers that
makers Qq 5, 6 ; Palmers that makes Q 7- their] the Q 3. 799. foul-reeking]
hyphened by Ewing. 807. will] shal Qq 4-6, 8 ; shall Q 7. my] thy Q 4.

786. distain] defile ; as in Richard the next line Richard II. II. iii. 4-7,
///. V. iii. 322. 10-12.

787. handmaids] the stars ; called 792- Where] Whereas ; as in Richard
"Diana's waiting- women " in Troilus II. in. ii. 185.

and Cressida, v. ii. 92 (Malone). 805. sepulchred] For the accent, see

790. And . . . assuage] Cf. Romeo Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv. ii. 118.

and Juliet, III. ii. 116: "If sour woe Malone cites an instance from Milton's

delight in fellowship"; Lear, in. vi. verses on Shakespeare : "Andsosepul-

114: " But then the mind much suffer- cher'd in such pomp does lie, That

ance doth o'erskip, When grief hath kings for such a tomb would wish to

mates, and bearing fellowship " ; die." The noun was usually accented

Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, I. cii. : as now. An exception is Richard II.

" Men seyn ' to wrecche is consolacioun i. iii. 196.

To have an-other felawe in his peyne ' " 807. character'd] So accented in

(Malone). Steevens cites the Latin Hamlet, i. iii. 59 ; and the noun, in

proverb: "Solamen miseris socios Richard III. iii. i. 81. Both were

habuisse doloris," and compares with usually accented on the first syllable.

7

98 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

The story of sweet chastity's decay,

The impious breach of holy wedlock vow:

Yea, the illiterate, that know not how 8io

To cipher what is writ in learned books,
Will quote my loathsome trespass in my looks.

"The nurse, to still her child, will tell my story.

And fright her crying babe with Tarquin's name;

The orator, to deck his oratory, 815

Will couple my reproach to Tarquin's shame;

Feast-finding minstrels, tuning my defame.

Will tie the hearers to attend each line,

How Tarquin wronged me, I Collatine.

"Let my good name, that senseless reputation, 820

For Collatine's dear love be kept unspotted:
If that be made a theme for disputation.
The branches of another root are rotted.
And undeserv'd reproach to him allotted

That is as clear from this attaint of mine 825

As I, ere this, was pure to Collatine.

" O unseen shame ! invisible disgrace !

O unfelt sore! crest-wounding, private scar!

Reproach is stamp'd in Collatinus' face.

And Tarquin's eye may read the mot afar, 830

How he in peace is wounded, not in war.

Alas, how many bear such shameful blows.

Which not themselves, but he that gives them knows I

808. sioty'] stories Q3. 809. breach'] breath Q 3 ; wedlock'] weldocks Q 3 ;

wedlocks Qq 4, 8 ; ivedlockes Qq 5-7. 830. mot] mote Qq 7, 8.

811. cipher] decipher, read. No own attaint?" the meaning is rather
other instance in New Eng. Diet. conviction than disgrace. The sense

812. qiiote] mark or observe. So "wound" is found in James IV.,
in Hamlet, II. i. 112: "I am sorry Grosart's Greene, xiii. 321 : " Spoyle
that with better heed and judgment I thou his subjects, thou despoilest me ;
had not quoted him" (Malone). See Touch but his breast, thou dost attaint
also Romeo and Juliet, i. iv. 31 : this heart." Lucretia's attaint wounds
"what care I What curious eye may at least Collatine, see I. 831 ; but the
quote deformities ? " Titus Andronicus, word had probably lost definiteness by
IV. i. 50: "note how she quotes the being confused with "taint."
leaves," said of Lavinia, who is dumb ; 830. mo(] motto ; cf. Gascoigne,
Love's Labour's Lost, v. ii. 796 : "Our Cambridge ed. I. 17 : "if I had sub-
letters, madam, show'd much more scribed the same with mine owne usual
than jest . . . We did not quote them mot or devise "[?.«. device]. New Eng.
so," where the meaning is "interpret." Diet, cites Halliwell's Marston, I. 55,

825. attaint] wound to honour, dis- Antonio and Mellida, Act v. : "I
credit. In Comedy of Errors, III. ii. did send for you to drawe me a devise,
16 : "What simple thief brags of his an Imprezza, by Sinecdoche a Mott."

LUCRECE 99

" If, Collatine, thine honour lay in me,

From me by strong assault it is bereft. 835

My honey lost, and I, a drone-like bee.

Have no perfection of my summer left,

But robb'd and ransack'd by injurious theft:

In thy weak hive a wandering wasp hath crept,

And suck'd the honey which thy chaste bee kept. 840

" Yet am I guilty of thy honour's wrack ;

Yet for thy honour did I entertain him ;

Coming from thee, I could not put him back,

For it had been dishonour to disdain him :

Besides, of weariness he did complain him, 845

And talk'd of virtue : O unlook'd-for evil.
When virtue is profan'd in such a devil !

"Why should the worm intrude the maiden bud?

Or hateful cuckoos hatch in sparrows' nests?

Or toads infect fair founts with venom mud? 8 50

Or tyrant folly lurk in gentle breasts?

Or kings be breakers of their own behests?

But no perfection is so absolute

That some impurity doth not pollute.

"The aged man that coffers up his gold 855

Is plagued with cramps and gouts and painful fits.
And scarce hath eyes his treasure to behold.
But like still-pining Tantalus he sits
And useless barns the harvest of his wits,

Having no other pleasure of his gain 860

But torment that it cannot cure his pain.

" So then he hath it when he cannot use it,
And leaves it to be master 'd by his young;

846. talk'd] talke Qq 3, 5, 6, 8 ; unlook'd-for] hyphened by Bell. 854. im-
purity] iniquity Qq 7, 8. 858. still-pining] hyphened by Malone. 859.
bams] bannes Qq 5-7, bans Q 8.

836. drone-like] Of drones it is said read, with Sewell, as a question, and

in the Theater of Insects, I. vii. (Top- " Yet " in the next line changed to

sell's History of Fourfooted Beasts, p. "No." But.Lucretia is debating her

919) : "Others will have them to be guilt in her own mind; she is a chaste

the issue of Bees by a certain degenera- bee robbed, yet the cause of CoUatine's

tion, when they have lost their stings, dishonour ; yet again it was for his

for then they become Drones, nor are honour that she welcomed his friend,

observed to gather any honey." See a similar debate, 11. 239-242.

841,842. Yet . . . him] Malone 853. absolute] complete, perfect; of.

conjectured that either " guilty " was 1 Henry IV. IV. iii. 50 ; Henry V. ill,

a misprint, or the first line should be vii. 27 ; Othello, 11. i. 193, etc.

100 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Who in their pride do presently abuse it:

Their father was too weak, and they too strong, 865

To hold their cursed-blessed fortune long.

The sweets we wish for turn to loathed sours
Even in the moment that we call them ours.

"Unruly blasts wait on the tender spring;

Unwholesome weeds take root with precious flowers ; 870

The adder hisses where the sweet birds sing;

What virtue breeds iniquity devours:

We have no good that we can say is ours

But ill-annexed Opportunity

Or kills his Hfe or else his quality. 875

"O Opportunity, thy guilt is great!

'Tis thou that execut'st the traitor's treason;

Thou sets the wolf where he the lamb may get ;

Whoever plots the sin, thou point'st the season ;

'Tis thou that spurn'st at right, at law, at reason; 880
And in thy shady cell, where none may spy him,
Sits Sin, to seize the souls that wander by him.

"Thou makest the vestal violate her oath;

Thou blowest the fire when temperance is thaw'd;

Thou smother'st honesty, thou murder'st troth; 885

Thou foul abettor ! thou notorious bawd !

Thou plantest scandal and displacest laud :

Thou ravisher, thou traitor, thou false thief,
Thy honey turns to gall, thy joy to grief!

"Thy secret pleasure turns to open shame, 890

Thy private feasting to a public fast.

Thy smoothing titles to a ragged name,

Thy sugar'd tongue to bitter wormwood taste:

Thy violent vanities can never last.

867. for\ oft Qq 7, 8. 871. hisses\ hisseth Qq 3-8. 874. ill-annexed]

not hyphened in Qq i, 2. 878. seis]seist Q 8. 881, 882. Aim . . . Aim']
her . . . her Qq 5-8. 884. blowesi] Qq ; blowest Gildon. 8S5. murder'st]
Gildon ; murthrest Qq I, 2, 4 ; murtherst Qq 5) 6 5 mtirtherest Qq 3, 7, 8.
892. smoothing] smothering Qq 5-8. 893. bitter] a bitter Q 3.

879. /oj«^j/] appointest ; cf. Taming Andronicus, v. ii. 140: "Yield to his

of the Shrew, in. i. 19: "I'll not be humour, smooth and speak him fair";

tied to hours nor 'pointed times " ; and Groatsworth of Wit, Grosart's Greene,

ibid. in. ii. I: "This is the 'pointed xii. 114: " For since he [Love] learned

day." to use the Poets pen He learnd likewise

892. smoothing]?\.3.\.\.trm%;ci. Richard with smoothing words to faine, Witch-

///. I. iii. 48 : "Smile in men's faces, ing chast eares with trothlesse toungs

smooth, deceive and cog"; Titus of men."

LUCRECE 101

How comes it then, vile Opportunity, 895

Being so bad, such numbers seek for thee?

" When wilt thou be the humble suppliant's friend,

And bring him where his suit may be obtained?

When wilt thou sort an hour great strifes to end?

Or free that soul which wretchedness hath chained? 900

Give physic to the sick, ease to the pained?

The poor, lame, blind, halt, creep, cry out for thee;

But they ne'er meet with Opportunity.

" The patient dies while the physician sleeps ;

The orphan pines while the oppressor feeds; 905

Justice is feasting while the widow weeps ;

Advice is sporting while infection breeds:

Thou grant'st no time for charitable deeds :

Wrath, envy, treason, rape, and murder's rages,

Thy heinous hours wait on them as their pages. 910

"When Truth and Virtue have to do with thee,
A thousand crosses keep them from thy aid :
They buy thy help, but Sin ne'er gives a fee;
He gratis comes, and thou art well appaid
As well to hear as grant what he hath said. 915

My Collatine would else have come to me
When Tarquin did, but he was stay'd by thee.

" Guilty thou art of murder and of theft.

Guilty of perjury and subornation,

Guilty of treason, forgery and shift, 920

Guilty of incest, that abomination;

An accessary by thine inclination

To all sins past and all that are to come.

From the creation to the general doom.

899. strifes] strife Q 3. 903. meef] met Qq 3-8. 909. murder' s] Malone,
murihers Qq 1-4, murther Qq 5-8. 913. buy thy\ buy, they Q 8. 918.

murder] Gildon, murther Qq.

899. sort] choose ; as in 1 Jlenry VI. make thee well apaid [i.e. glad] To

II. iii. 27: "I'll sort some other time recant thy words."

to visit you " ; and Richard III. 11. ii. 920. shift] mean trick, swindle ; cf.

148: "I'll sort occasion . . . To part Bacon, Essay s , vm. . " The Illiberalitie

the queen's proud kindred from the of Parents, in allowance towards their

king." Children . . . makes them base,

914. appaid]-p\e3,sei;ci. Hickscorner, Acquaints them with Shifts"; Merry

Hazlitt's Dodsley, i. 175 : " when we Wives, i. iii. 37 : "I must cony-catch ;

do amend, God would be well apaid " ; I must shift " ; and Greene, ed. Grosart,

New Custom, ibid. iii. 18: "I will x. 9, calls "Coosening Cunnie-catchets "

shifting companions.

102 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

" Mis-shapen Time, copesmate of ugly Night, 925

Swift subtle post, carrier of grisly care.

Eater of youth, false slave to false delight,

Base watch of woes, sin's pack-horse, virtue's snare;

Thou nursest all and murder'st all that are:

O, hear me then, injurious, shifting Time ! 930

Be guilty of my death, since of my crime.

" Why hath thy servant Opportunity

Betray'd the hours thou gav'st me to repose,

Cancell'd my fortunes and enchained me

To endless date of never-ending woes? 935

Time's office is to fine the hate of foes,

To eat up errors by opinion bred,

Not spend the dowry of a lawful bed.

" Time's glory is to calm contending kings,

To unmask falsehood and bring truth to light, 940

To stamp the seal of time in aged things,

To wake the morn and sentinel the night,

To wrong the wronger till he render right,

To ruinate proud buildings with thy hours

And smear with dust their glittering golden towers ; 945

" To fill with worm-holes stately monuments.
To feed oblivion with decay of things.
To blot old books and altei their contents.
To pluck the quills from ancient ravens' wings,

929. murder'st] murthrest Qq 1-4, murthtrest Qq 5-8. 936, fine\ finde

Q 8. 937. errors] errour Q 3, error Qq 7, 8.

925. copesmate] companion, accom- Historyes of Troy, ed. Sommer, ii. 537 :

pUce ; a favourite word of Greene's. See "Certes that shall be your dolorouse

Mourning Garment, ed. Grosart, ix. fyn and end."

176: "He . . . sent for such copes- 943. wrong the wronger] Compare

mates as they pleased, who with their Browning, Dra^natic Romances, Before,

false dice, were oft sharers with him of iv. : " Better sin the whole sin, sure

his crownes " ; Arden of Feversham, that God observes ; Then go live his

in. V. 104: "Go, get thee gone, a life out ! Life will try his nerves," said

copesmate for thy hinds." of " the culprit," St. iii., who is called

936, _/?««] terminate; cf. Chaucer, " the wronger," st. x. Malone para-

Wife of Bath's Prologue, 788: "And phrases " wrong " by " punish by com-

when I saw that he wolde never fyne punctious visitings of conscience," and

To reden on this cursed book al night," notes that this kind of wrong, damnum

etc. The noun is common in Shake- jzKezK/Krz'a, illustrates and supports Tyr-

speare, e.g. AlVs Well, iv. iv. 35 : whitt's explanation oi Julius Ccesar, III.

"Still the fine's the crown, Whate'er i. 47, as quoted by Ben Jonson : "Know

the course, the end is the renown " ; and Csesar doth not wrong but with just

.eaw/«/, V. i. IIJ: "Is this the fineof cause." He adds that here "Dr.

his fines, and The recovery of his re- Farmer very elegantly would read

coveries?" So Caxion, Recuyell of the wring."

LUCRECE

103

To dry the old oak's sap and cherish springs,
To spoil antiquities of hammer'd steel
And turn the giddy round of Fortune's wheel;

9SO

"To show the beldam daughters of her daughter,
To make the child a man, the man a child,
To slay the tiger that doth live by slaughter,
To tame the unicorn and lion wild.
To mock the subtle in themselves beguil'd,

To cheer the ploughman with increaseful crops.
And waste huge stones with little water-drops.

9S5

" Why work'st thou mischief in thy pilgrimage, 960

Unless thou couldst return to make amends?

One poor retiring minute in an age

Would purchase thee a thousand thousand friends.

Lending him wit that to bad debtors lends :

O, this dread night, wouldst thou one hour come back, 965
I could prevent this storm and shun thy wrack!

966. shun thy'] shun this Qq 5, 6 ; shunt his Qq 7, 8.

950. cherish springs'] According to
Warburton, who asserts that the subject
is "the decays and not the repairs
of time," the poet certainly wrote
"tarish," i.e. dry up springs, from the
French tarir. Johnson proposed
"perish," which Farmer found used
actively in The Maid's Tragedy, pro-
bably in IV. i. 222 : " let not my sins
Perish your noble youth." Toilet ex-
plained "the shoots or buds of young
trees," quoting Holinshed's Description
of England \i.q. Harrison's (ed. Fur-
nivall, p. 339)]: "We have manie
woods, forests, and parkes which cherish
trees abundantlie . . . beside infinit
numbers of hedgerowes, groves, and
springs, that are mainteined," etc.
Malone cites Comedy of Errors, in. ii.
3: "Even in the spring of love thy
love-springs rot " ; and Venus arid
Adonis, 1. 656; "This canker that
eats up love's tender spring." The
' ' springs " may be young oaks. In the
Eng. Dialect Diet, sub voc. the meanings
young whitethorn, undergrowth of wood
from one to four years old, are abund-
antly illustrated ; cf. Turbervile's Book
of Hunting, reprint, p. 42 : " The Hart
hath a propertie, that if he goe to feede
in a young springe or Coppes, he goeth
first to seeke the winde."

953. beldam] grandmother, or merely,
as in 1. 1458, old woman.

956. unicorn] But according to Top-
sell, Fourfooted Beasts, p. 557, time has
an unfavourable influence : " It [the
Unicorn] is a beast of an untameable
nature . . . except they be taken before
they be two years old they will never be
tamed . . . when they are old, they
differ nothing at all from the most bar-
barous bloudy and ravenous beasts."

959. And . . . drops] Cf. Ovid, A. A.
476 : " Quid magis est saxo durum,
quid mollius unda ? Dura tamen moUi
saxa cavantur aqua.''

962. retiring]. Malone explains
"returning," a sense for which Prof.
Case cites A Warning for Faire
Women, Simpson's School of Shakspere,
ii. pp. 246, 247 :

" This Mistress Drury must be made
the mean,
What e'er it cost, to compass my

desire.
And I hope well she doth so soon
retire.

[Enter Roger and Drurie."
For the less likely meaning " recalling "
(cf. French retirer) or " restoring," he
quotes Fortune by Land and Sea,
Pearson's Hey wood, vi. 369 : "Help to
retire his spirits overtravell'd With age."

104 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

"Thou ceaseless lackey to eternity,

With some mischance cross Tarquin in his flight :

Devise extremes beyond extremity,

To make him curse this cursed crimeful night: 970

Let ghastly shadows his lewd eyes affright,

And the dire thought of his committed evil
Shape every bush a hideous shapeless devil.

" Disturb his hours of rest with restless trances.
Afflict him in his bed with bedrid groans; 975

Let there bechance him pitiful mischances.
To make him moan ; but pity not his moans :
Stone him with harden'd hearts, harder than stones ;
And let mild women to him lose their mildness,
Wilder to him than tigers in their vvildness. 980

" Let him have time to tear his curled hair.

Let him have time against himself to rave,

Let him have time of time's help to despair,

Let him have time to live a loathed slave.

Let him have time a beggar's orts to crave, 985

And time to see one that by alms doth live
Disdain to him disdained scraps to give.

" Let him have time to see his friends his foes,

And merry fools to mock at him resort ;

Let him have time to mark how slow time goes 990

In time of sorrow, and how swift and short

His time of folly and his time of sport;
And ever let his unrecalling crime
Have time to wail the abusing of his time.

" O Time, thou tutor both to good and bad, 995

Teach me to curse him that thou taught' st this ill !

975. bedrid] dedred Qq.

969. deyond exiremiiy'] Steevens cites wrinkled chaps." Elsewhere in Shake-

Lear, v. iii. 207 : ' ' would make much speare it is used figuratively, as in Julius

more And top extremity" ; with which CcBsar, IV. i. 37 : "one that feeds On

Craig compares Cyinbeline, III. ii. 58 : abjects, orts and imitations " ; Timon

"For mine's beyond beyond." of Athens, IV. iii. 400; "It is some

974, 975- Disturb . . . groans} poor fragment, some slender ort of his

Malone notes that here we have in remainder " ; Troilus and Cressida, V.

embryo that scene of Richard III. v. ii. 158 : " The fractions of her faith,

iii. 1 19-177, in which he is terrified by orts of her love, The fragments, scraps,

the ghosts of those whom he had the bits and greasy relics Of her o'er-

slain. eaten faith."

985. arts'] remains of food ; cf. Hood, 993. unrecalling] irrevocable ; so

The Last Man, st. 3 : " The very sight " unrecuring " is used in the sense of

of his broken orts Made a work in his incurable, Titus Andronicus, III. i. 90.

LUCRECE 105

At his own shadow let the thief run mad,

Himself himself seek every hour to kill !

Such wretched hands such wretched blood should
spill ;
For who so base would such an office have looo

As slanderous deathsman to so base a slave?

"The baser is he, coming from a king,

To shame his hope with deeds degenerate :

The mightier man, the mightier is the thing

That makes him honour'd or begets him hate; 1005

For greatest scandal waits on greatest state.

The moon being clouded presently is miss'd,
But little stars may hide them when they list.

"The crow may bathe his coal-black wings in mire,

And unperceiv'd fly with the filth away; loio

But if the like the snow-white swan desire.

The stain upon his silver down will stay.

Poor grooms are sightless night, kings glorious day :
Gnats are unnoted wheresoe'er they fly,
But eagles gaz'd upon with every eye. 1015

" Out, idle words, servants to shallow fools !

Unprofitable sounds, weak arbitrators !

Busy yourselves in skill-contending schools ;

Debate where leisure serves with dull debaters;

To trembling clients be you mediators: 1020

For me, I force not argument a straw,
Since that my case is past the help of law.

1016. Out] Our Qq 4-8. 1018. skill-contending\ hyphened in Qq 3, 5-7.

looi. slanderous] ill-reputed, despic- explains "not seeing, blind, dark"; as

able. in Sonnets, xxvii. 10, xliii. 12.

looi. deathsman] executioner; cf. 1021. force] value, CBire foi ; ci. Carde

TuUies Love, Giosurt's Greene, vii. 14^: of Fancie, Grosart's Greene, iv. 156:

"in love delay is the unhappie deaths- "she doubteth no daungers, she forceth

man that holding thee up neither saves of no misfortune, she careth for no

nor killes" ; Metamorphosis, ix. no : calamitie, she passeth for no perils, so

"the deaths-man having laid the blocke, she may enjoy thy desired company";

and holding the axe in his hand " ; and Romeus and Juliet, Hazlitt's Shaks.

and p. 112: "and so turning to the Lib. p. 78: "Had served her, who

deathsman, laying his necke on forced not what pains he did endure " ;

the blocke, his head was smitten off." p. 80 : "hydes her from thy sight. Not

1013. grooms] creatures, fellows; cf. forsing all thy great expense"; p. 112:

1 Henry VI. I. iii. 14. "But now what is decreed by fatall

1013. sightless] The context seems to desteny I force it not," and p. 133 :

require the meaning ," invisible," as in " He [Cupid] forceth not a lovers payne,

Macbeth, I. v. 50, I. vii. 23. Schmidt theyr ernest is his sport."

106 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

" In vain I rail at Opportunity,

At Time, at Tarquin, and uncheerful Night;

In vain I cavil with mine infamy, 1025

In vain I spurn at my confirm'd despite:

This helpless smoke of words doth me no right.

The remedy indeed to do me good

Is to let forth my foul defiled blood.

"Poor hand, why quiver'st thou at this decree? 1030

Honour thyself to rid me of this shame;

For if I die, my honour lives in thee,

But if I live, thou liv'st in my defame:

Since thou couldst not defend thy loyal dame

And wast afeard to scratch her wicked foe, 1035

Kill both thyself and her for yielding so."

This said, from her be-tumbled couch she starteth.
To find some desperate instrument of death :
But this no slaughterhouse no tool imparteth
To make more vent for passage of her breath; 1040

Which, thronging through her lips, so vanisheth
As smoke from -(Etna that in air consumes,
Or that which from discharged cannon fumes.

" In vain," quoth she, " I live, and seek in vain

Some happy mean to end a hapless life. 1045

I fear'd by Tarquin's falchion to be slain.

Yet for the self-same purpose seek a knife :

But when I fear'd I was a loyal wife :

So am I now: O no, that cannot be;

Of that true type hath Tarquin rifled me. 1050

"O, that is gone for which I sought to live,

And therefore now I need not fear to die.

To clear this spot by death, at least I give

A badge of fame to slander's livery,

A dying life to living infamy: 1055

Poor helpless help, the treasure stol'n away.
To burn the guiltless casket where it lay !

"Well, well, dear CoUatine, thou shalt not know
The stained taste of violated troth ;

1024. uncheerful] vnsearchfull C)i\\-%. 102,1). foul defiled] foul-deJiled'Dy ce.
1037. startetK] starts Qq 5-8. 1039. imparteth] imparts Qq $-8.

1054. badgel In our author's time the arms of their masters were en-
the servants of the nobility all wore graved (Malone).
silver badges on their liveries, on which

LUCRECE 107

I will not wrong thy true affection so, 1060

To flatter thee with an infringed oath;

This bastard graff shall never come to growth :

He shall not boast who did thy stock pollute

That thou art doting father of his fruit.

"Nor shall he smile at thee in secret thought, 1065

Nor laugh with his companions at thy state;
But thou shalt know thy interest was not bought
Basely with gold, but stol'n from forth thy gate.
For me, I am the mistress of my fate.

And with my trespass never will dispense, 1070

Till life to death acquit my forc'd offence.

" I will not poison thee with my attaint.

Nor fold my fault in cleanly-coin'd excuses;

My sable ground of sin I will not paint,

To hide the truth of this false night's abuses: 1075

My tongue shall utter all ; mine eyes, like sluices.
As from a mountain-spring that feeds a dale.
Shall gush pure streams to purge my impure tale."

By this, lamenting Philomel had ended
The well tun'd warble of her nightly sorrow, 1080

And solemn night with slow sad gait descended
To ugly hell ; when, lo, the blushing morrow
Lends light to all fair eyes that light will borrow :
But cloudy Lucrece shames herself to see.
And therefore still in night would cloister'd be. 1085

Revealing day through every cranny spies.
And seems to point her out where she sits weeping;
To whom she sobbing speaks : " O eye of eyes,
Why pry'st thou through my window? leave thy peeping:
Mock with thy tickling beams eyes that are sleeping: 1090
Brand not my forehead with thy piercing light,
For day hath nought to do what's done by night."

Thus cavils she with every thing she sees :
True grief is fond and testy as a child,

1062. graff^ grasse Qq 3-8. 1073. cleanly-coin'd'] hyphened by Malone.

1074. of] with Qq 7, 8. 1083. will] would Qq 4-8.

1062. ^ra^ older form of graft ; used bird, And made a Gardener putting
by Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien: "I in a graff."
took his brush and blotted out the

108 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Who wayward once, his mood with nought agrees: 1095
Old woes, not infant sorrows, bear them mild;
Continuance tames the one; the other wild,

Like an unpractis'd swimmer plunging still)
With too much labour drowns for want of skill.

So she, deep-drenched in a sea of care, iioo

Holds disputation with each thing she views.

And to herself all sorrow doth compare;

No object but her passion's strength renews,

And as one shifts, another straight ensues :

Sometime her grief is dumb and hath no words; 1105
Sometime 'tis mad and too much talk affords.

The little birds that tune their morning's joy
Make her moans mad with their sweet melody :
For mirth doth search the bottom of annoy;
Sad souls are slain in merry company; mo

Grief best is pleas'd with grief's society:
True sorrow then is feelingly sufficed
When with like semblance it is sympathized.

'Tis double death to drown in ken of shore;
He ten times pines that pines beholding food; 1115

To see the salve doth make the wound ache more;
Great grief grieves most at that would do it good ;
Deep woes roll forward like a gentle flood.

Who, being stopp'd, the bounding banks o'erflows;

Grief dallied with nor law nor limit knows. 11 20

"You mocking birds," quoth she, "your tunes entomb

Within your hollow-swelling feather'd breasts,

And in my hearing be you mute and dumb:

My restless discord loves no stops nor rests;

A woeful hostess brooks not merry guests: 1125

Relish your nimble notes to pleasing ears;

Distress likes dumps when time is kept with tears.

" Come, Philomel, that sing'st of ravishment,
Make thy sad grove in my dishevell'd hair:
As the dank earth weeps at thy languishment, 11 30

1 105. Sometime] Sometimes Qq 4-8. 1 122. hollow-siaelling] hyphened by

Malone. 1 123. mute and] ever Qq 5-8. 1129. grove] grone Q 4.

1 1 15. pines] starves, as in 1. 905; TAaXont cilei Two Gentlemen of Verona,
cf. Sonnets, Ixxv. 13. in. ii. 85 : "to their instruments Tune

1 127. dumps] sad tunes or songs, a despairing dump."

LUCRECE

109

So I at each sad strain will strain a tear,
And with deep groans the diapason bear;

For burden-wise I'll hum on Tarquin still,
While thou on Tereus descants better skill.

"And whiles against a thorn thou bear'st thy part, 1135
To keep thy sharp woes waking, wretched I,
To imitate thee well, against my heart
Will fix a sharp knife, to affright mine eye;
Who, if it wink, shall thereon fall and die.

These means, as frets upon an instrument, 1140

Shall tune our heart-strings to true languishment.

"And for, poor bird, thou sing'st not in the day,

As shaming any eye should thee behold,

Some dark deep desert, seated from the way,

That knows not parching heat nor freezing cold, 1145

1 133. burden-wise] Sewell, burthen-wise Qq. 1133, 1 134- Tarquin still
. . . Tereus . . . skill] Tarquin! s ill . . . Tereus' . . . still, Steevens conj.
1145. not] nor Qq 5-8.

1 132. diapason] "An air or bass
sounding in exact concord, i.e. in
octaves" — JVem Eng. Diet,, which cites
Dyer's Ruins of Rome : " While winds
and tempests sweep his [Time's] various
lyre, How sweet thy diapason, Melan-
choly." See also Greene's Menaphon
(Grosart, vi. 130) : " If the feare of
thy hardie deedes were like the dia-
pason of thy threates " ; and A Maiden's
Dreame (xiv. 308): "Her sorrowes
and her teares did well accorde, Their
Diapason was in selfe-same [ch]ord."

1 133. burden] "Burden from con-
fusion with 'bourdon' came to mean
'the base, undersong or accompani-
ment,'" New Eng. Did. p. 1183 b;
see also p. 1183 a: "Apparently the
notion was that the base or undersong
was heavier than the air. The bourdon
usually continued when the singer of
the air paused at the end of a stanza,
and (when vocal) was usually sung to
words forming a refrain, being often
taken up in chorus ; hence sense 10 "
[refrain or chorus]. Compare Two
Gentlemen of Verona, i. ii. 85 : "It is

tpoheavyforsolightatune Heavy!

belike it hath some burden then" ; and
As You Like It, III. ii. 261 : " I would
sing ray song without a burden ; thou
bringest me out of tune."

1 1 34. Tereus] See Passionate Pilgrim,
xxi. 15.

1 1 34. descants] I have restored the
reading of the quartos, as sound in poetry
seems to me of more importance than
grammar. New Eng. Diet, explains
"descant" as "To play or sing an air
in harmony with a fixed theme."

1134. belter skill] i.e. with better
skill. Steevens doubtfully conjectures :
"I'll hum on Tarquin's ill, While thou
on Tarquin descant'st better still " ; but
"still," i.e. continually, seems needed
to explain " burden- wise " ; and the
old reading harmonises better with the
thought that, though Philomel may
lament more sweetly, she has no
greater cause for lamentation than
Lucrece.

1 135. against a thorn] Of. Passionate
Pilgrim, xxi. 10-24.

1139. Who, if it wink] The construc-
tion is, "Which heart, if the eye wink,
shall fall," etc. (Malone).

wifi. frets] See Fret, sb.', New Eng.
Did.: "In musical instruments like
the guitar, formerly a ring of gut
(Stainer), now a bar or ridge of wood,
metal, etc., placed on the fingerboard
to regulate the fingering."

1 142. thou . . . (fajc] The same error
is implied in Merchant of Venice, v. i.
104, cited by Malone.

1 144. from] at a distance from; cf.
King John, IV. i. 86 ; and Timon of
Athens, IV. iii. 533.

no SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Will we find out; and there we will unfold

To creatures stern sad tunes, to change their kinds:
Since men prove beasts, let beasts bear gentle minds."

As the poor frighted deer, that stands at gaze,

Wildly determining which way to fly, 1150

Or one encompass'd with a winding maze.

That cannot tread the way out readily;

So with herself is she in mutiny.

To live or die, which of the twain were better.
When life is sham'd and death reproach's debtor. 1155

" To kill myself," quoth she, " alack, what were it.
But with my body my poor soul's pollution ?
They that lose half with greater patience bear it
Than they whose whole is swallow'd in confusion.
That mother tries a merciless conclusion 1160

Who, having two sweet babes, when death takes one,
Will slay the other and be nurse to none.

" My body or my soul, which was the dearer.

When the one pure, the other made divine?

Whose love of either to myself was nearer, 1165

When both were kept for heaven and Collatine?

Ay me ! the bark peel'd from the lofty pine.

His leaves will wither and his sap decay ;

So must my soul, her bark being peel'd away.

"Her house is sack'd, her quiet interrupted, 1170

Her mansion batter'd by the enemy;

Her sacred temple spotted, spoil'd, corrupted.

Grossly engirt with daring infamy :

Then let it not be call'd impiety.

If in this blemish'd fort I make some hole 1 175

Through which I may convey this troubled soul.
1167,' 1169. peeVd] lAxAoit, pild Q({ i-T, pil'd (piirdin 1169) Q 8.

1 155. When . . . debtor] Malone body's sc. pollution. Suicide would

paraphrases : " She debates whether add to the ruin of her body, the ruin of

she should not rather destroy herself her soul. It is not a Roman thought,
than live; life being disgraceful in con- 1160. tries . . . ctmctusion] Undsont

sequence of his violation, and her death if by a cruel experiment she can regain

being a debt which she owes to the her peace of mind ; cf. Hamlet, III.

reproach of her conscience." But this iv. 195 : "like the famous ape, To try

is to make Lucrece the debtor. Perhaps, conclusions, in the basket creep, And

in spite of the contrast with life, death break your own neck down." Malone

is personified and represented as being compares Antony and Cleopatra, v. ii.

bound to slay Lucrece in satisfaction of 358: "She hath pursued conclusions

the claims of reproach. infinite Of easy ways to die."

1 157. with my body'] i.e. with my

LUCRECE 111

"Yet die 1 will not till my Collatine

Have heard the cause of my untimely death;

That he may vow, in that sad hour of mine,

Revenge on him that made me stop my breath. 1180

My stained blood to Tarquin I'll bequeath,

Which by him tainted shall for him be spent,

And as his due writ in my testament,

" My honour I '11 bequeath unto the knife

That wounds my body so dishonoured. 11 85

'Tis honour to deprive dishonour'd life;

The one will live, the other being dead:

So of shame's ashes shall my fame be bred ;
For in my death I murder shameful scorn :
My shame so dead, mine honour is new-born. 1190

" Dear lord of that dear jewel I have lost,

What legacy shall I bequeath to thee?

My resolution, love, shall be thy boast

By whose example thou reveng'd mayst be.

How Tarquin must be us'd, read it in me: 1195

Myself, thy friend, will kill myself, thy foe.
And, for my sake, serve thou false Tarquin so.

"This brief abridgement of my will I make:
My soul and body to the skies and ground;
My resolution, husband, do thou take; 1200

My honour be the knife's that makes my wound ;
My shame be his that did my fame confound;
And all my fame that lives disbursed be
To those that live and think no shame of me.

"Thou, Collatine, shalt oversee this will; 1205

1182. by] for Q I. 1189. murder] murther Qq 1-7. Iigo. mine] my Qq
3-8. 1200. thou] you Qq 3-8. 1205. Thou] Then Qq 4-8, When Sewell ;
shali] shall Qq 5-8.

1199. My . . . ground] Cf. Rich- his executors, and Thomas Russel and

ard II. IV. i. 97-100 : "and there at Francis Collins as his overseers."

Venice gave His body to that pleasant Malone says that " Overseers were

country's earth, And his pure soul frequently added in Wills from the

unto his captain Christ, Under whose superabundant caution of our ancestors ;

colours he had fought so long " ; and but our law acknowledges no such

Shakespeare's own will : "I commend persons, nor are they (as contradis-

my soule into the handes of God my tinguished from executors), invested

Creator . . . and my bodye to the with any legal rights whatever. In

earth whereof yt is made." some old wills the term overseer is used

1205. oversee] be the executor of. instead of executor." In Shakespeare's

" The overseer of a will was, I suppose," will the words " giving of such sufficient

says Steevens, "designed as a check securitie as the overseers of this my

upon the executors. Our author will shall like of," imply that overseers

appoints John Hall and his wife for might at least have duties.

112 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

How was I overseen that thou shalt see it!

My blood shall wash the slander of mine ill;

My life's foul deed, my life's fair end shall free it.

Faint not, faint heart, but stoutly say 'So be it : '

Yield to my hand; my hand shall conquer thee: 1210
Thou dead, both die and both shall victors be."

This plot of death when sadly she had laid,
And wip'd the brinish pearl from her bright eyes.
With untun'd tongue she hoarsely calls her maid.
Whose swift obedience to her mistress hies; 1215

For fleet-wing'd duty with thought's feathers flies.
Poor Lucrece' cheeks unto her maid seem so
As winter meads when sun doth melt their snow.

Her mistress she doth give demure good-morrow.

With soft slow tongue, true mark of modesty, 1220

And sorts a sad look to her lady's sorrow.

For why her face wore sorrow's livery,

But durst not ask of her audaciously

Why her two suns were cloud-eclipsed so.

Nor why her fair cheeks over-wash'd with woe. 1225

But as the earth doth weep, the sun being set.

Each flower moisten'd like a melting eye.

Even so the maid with swelling drops 'gan wet

Her circled eyne, enforc'd by sympathy

Of those fair suns set in her mistress' sky, 1230

Who in a salt-wav'd ocean quench their light,
Which makes the maid weep like the dewy night.

A pretty while these pretty creatures stand.

Like ivory conduits coral cisterns filling :

One justly weeps; the other takes in hand 1235

No cause, but company, of her drops spilling:

1210. my hand shair\ shall Q 6, attd it shall Qq 'J, 8. 1220. slow tongtie']
hyphened in Qq I, 2. 1224. cloud-eclipsed\ hyphened in Qq 3-8. 1 23 1.

salt-waved] hyphened in Qq 3-8. !

1206. overseen] The analogy of says: "To sort is to choose out. So

"overlooked" might lead to the belief before (1. 899) : 'When wilt thou sort

that here the sense is "bewitched" or an hour great strifes to end?'"
"under the influence of the evil eye," 1234. conduits] Cf. As You Like It,

but it is perhaps better understood as IV. i. 154 : "I will weep for nothing,

" deceived, deluded " ; see illustrations like Diana in the fountain"; Romeo

in New Eng. Diet. and Juliet, m. v. 130 : " How now ! a

1221. jor^j] adapts; as in ^^«»;^ F/. conduit, girl? what, still in tears?"

n. iv. 68 ; and Two Gentlemen of (Malone).
Verona, I. iii. 63 (Schmidt). Malone

LUCRECE 113

Their gentle sex to weep are often willing,

Grieving themselves to guess at others' smarts,

And then they drown their eyes or break their hearts.

For men have marble, women waxen, minds, 1240

And therefore are they form'd as marble will ;

The weak oppress'd, the impression of strange kinds

Is form'd in them by force, by fraud, or skill :

Then call them not the authors of their ill,

No more than wax shall be accounted evil 1245

Wherein is stamp'd the semblance of a devil.

Their smoothness, like a goodly champaign plain.

Lays open all the little worms that creep;

In men, as in a rough-grown grove, remain

Cave-keeping evils that obscurely sleep: 1250

Through crystal walls each little mote will peep :

Though men can cover crimes with bold stern looks,
Poor women's faces are their own faults' books.

No man inveigh against the wither'd flower,

But chide rough winter that the flower hath kill'd: 1255

Not that devour'd, but that which doth devour,

Is worthy blame. O, let it not be hild

Poor women's faults, that they are so fulfill'd

With men's abuses: those proud lords to blame
Make weak-made women tenants to their shame. 1260

The precedent whereof in Lutrece view,

Assail'd by night with circumstances strong

Of present death, and shame that might ensue

By that her death, to do her husband wrong:

Such danger to resistance did belong, 1265

That dying fear through all her body spread ;

And who cannot abuse a body dead?

1238. others''] other Qq 5-7. 1243- or] and Q 3. 1254. inveigh] inveighs
Qq 2-8. 1255. chide] chides Qli\ 3, 7, 8. 1257. hild] held Qq 5-8.

1266. That] Thy Q 4, The Qq 5-8.

1245. ■wax]Qi. Twelfth Night, \\. i\. filled"; and Swinburne, Sftidies in

31 : "How easy is it for the proper- Song, p. 168: "If thou slay me, O

false In women's waxen hearts to set death, and outlive me, Yet thy love hath

their forms " (Malone). fulfilled me of thee."

12$Z. fulfilFd] completely filled; cf. 1261. precedent] ^icoof ; ci. Venus and

Troilus and Cressida, Prologue, 18 : Adonis, 1. 26.

" massy staples And corresponsive and 1267. abuse] ill-treat ; cf. As You

fulfilling bolts Sperr up the sons cf Like It, ni.ii. ■^'ji: " abuses our young

Troy." This meaning has been revived, plants with carving ' Rosalind ' on their

e.g. Morris, Goldilocks and Goldilocks: barks."
"Like man and maid with love ful-

114 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

By this, mild patience bid fair Lucrece speak

To the poor counterfeit of her complaining :

"My girl," quoth she, "on what occasion break 1270

Those tears from thee, that down thy cheeks are raining ?

If thou dost weep for grief of my sustaining.

Know, gentle wench, it small avails my mood :
If tears could help, mine own would do me good.

"But tell me, girl, when went" — and there she stay'd 1275
Till after a deep groan — " Tarquin from hence ? "
" Madam, ere I was up," replied the maid,
" The more to blame my sluggard negligence :
Yet with the fault I thus far can dispense;

Myself was stirring ere the break of day, 1280

And ere I rose was Tarquin gone away.

" But, lady, if your maid may be so bold,

She would request to know your heaviness."

" O, peace ! " quoth Lucrece : " if it should be told,

The repetition cannot make it less, 1285

For more it is than I can well express :

And that deep torture may be call'd a hell
When more is felt than one hath power to tell.

" Go, get me hither paper, ink and pen :

Yet save that labour, for I have them here. 1290

What should I say? One of my husband's men

Bid thou be ready by and by to bear

A letter to my lord, my love, my dear:

Bid him with speed prepare to carry it;

The cause craves haste and it will soon be writ." 1295

Her maid is gone, and she prepares to write,

First hovering o'er the paper with her quill:

Conceit and grief an eager combat iight;

What wit sets down is blotted straight with will ;

This is too curious-good, this blunt and ill: 1 300

Much like a press of people at a door.
Throng her inventions, which shall go before.

1268. bid] did Qq 3, 8. 1274. mine] my Q 3. 1278. sluggard] sluggish
Q 3. 1299. straight] stil Q 4, still Qq 3, 5-8. 1300. curious-good]
hyphened by Malone.

1269. To . . . complaining] "To signified a portrait." Cf. Merchant
her maid, whose countenance exhibited of Venice, in. ii. 115: "What find I
an image of her mistress's grief. A here ? Fair Portia's counterfeit I " (Ma-
counterfeit, in ancient language, lone).

LUCRECE 115

At last she thus begins: "Thou worthy lord

Of that unworthy wife that greeteth thee,

Health to thy person ! next vouchsafe t' afford — 1 305

If ever, love, thy Lucrece thou wilt see —

Some present speed to come and visit me.

So, I commend me from our house in grief:

My woes are tedious, though my words are brief."

Here folds she up the tenour of her woe, 13 10

Her certain sorrow writ uncertainly.

By this short schedule Collatine may know

Her grief, but not her griefs true quality:

She dares not thereof make discovery,

Lest he should hold it her own gross abuse, 1315

Ere she with blood had stain'd her stain'd excuse.

Besides, the life and feeling of her passion
She hoards, to spend when he is by to hear her.
When sighs and groans and tears may grace the fashion
Of her disgrace, the better so to clear her 1320

From that suspicion which the world might bear her.
To shun this blot, she would not blot the letter
With words, till action might become them better.

To see sad sights moves more than hear them told;

For then the eye interprets to the ear 1325

The heavy motion that it doth behold.

When every part a part of woe doth bear.

'Tis but a part of sorrow that we hear:

Deep sounds make lesser noise than shallow fords.
And sorrow ebbs, being blown with wind of words. 1330

Her letter now is seal'd and on it writ

" At Ardea to my lord with more than haste."

1310. ienour] Malone, tenor Qq 5-8, tenure Qq 1-4.

1308. So . . . grief \ "Shakespeare irritant animos demissa per aurem

has here closely followed the practice Quam quse sunt oculis subjecta

of his own times. Thus, Anne BuUen fidelibus" (Malone).

concluding her pathetick letter to her 1329. sounds] Malone proposed

savage murderer: 'From my doleful " floods," quoting 1. 1 1 18 : "Deep woes

prison in the Tower, this 6th of May.' roll forward like a gentle flood." The

So also Gascoigne the poet ends his point is debated at some length in

address to the Youth of England, pre- the Variorum of 1823, and in Mr.

fixed to his works : ' From my poor Wyndham's edition of the Poems,

house at Walthamstowe in the Forest, 1332. with more than haste] Just as

the 2nd of February, 1575 ' " (Ma- in old time English letters requiring

lone). speed were superscribed "with post

1324,1325. To. . . ear] Cf. Horace, post haste" (Steevens). See, for a

Ars Poetica, 11. 180, 181: "Segnius similar anachronism, 1. 1308.

116 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

The post attends, and she delivers it,

Charging the sour-fac'd groom to hie as fast

As lagging fowls before the northern blast: 1335

Speed more than speed but dull and slow she
deems :

Extremity still urgeth such extremes.

The homely villain curtsies to her low,

And blushing on her, with a steadfast eye

Receives the scroll without or yea or no, 1340

And forth with bashful innocence doth hie.

But they whose guilt within their bosoms lie

Imagine every eye beholds their blame;

For Lucrece thought he blush'd to see her shame:

When, silly groom ! God wot, it was defect 1 345

Of spirit, life and bold audacity.

Such harmless creatures have a true respect

To talk in deeds, while others saucily

Promise more speed but do it leisurely:

Even so this pattern of the worn-out age 1350

Pawn'd honest looks, but laid no words to gage.

His kindled duty kindled her mistrust,

That two red fires in both their faces blazed ;

She thought he blush'd, as knowing Tarquin's lust.

And blushing with him, wistly on him gazed; 1355

Her earnest eye did make him more amazed :

The more she saw the blood his cheeks replenish.
The more she thought he spied in her some blemish.

1338. curtsies] Sewell, cursies Qq. 1342. within'] doth in Beale conj

1348. others] other Qq 7, 8.

1338. villain] servant ; cf. Comedy of but here rather " similitude'' or " repre-

Errors, I. ii. 19, where Antiphilo calls sentation " of what servants used to be.

his attendant, Dromio, "a trusty With the thought Steevens compares

villain." As You Like It, II. iii. 57: "O good

1338. curtsies] bows ; formerly used old man, how well in thee appears The

of men, as in Twelfth Night, II. v. constant service of the antique world."
67: "Toby approaches: courtesies 1 355- wistly] earnestly; cf. Venus

there to me." and Adonis, 343 ; Passionate Pilgrim,

1348. To talk in deeds] Malone com- vi. 12; Richard II. v. iv. 7: "And

pares Troilus and Cressida, IV. v. 98 : speaking it, he wistly look'd on me ;

" Speaking in deeds and deedless in his As who should say, 'I would thou

tongue." wert the man ' " ; and Holland, Pliny,

1350. pattern] Usually "model," as x. xxiii : "whiles she [the bird Otis]

\n As You Like It, IV. i. TOO : " And is amused, and looking wistly upon one

he [Troilus] is one of the patterns of that goeth about her, another commeth

love," i.e. a model or typical lover; behind and soon catcheth her."

LUCRECE 117

But long she thinks till he return again,

And yet the duteous vassal scarce is gone. 1360

The weary time she cannot entertain,

For now 'tis stale to sigh, to weep and groan:

So woe hath wearied woe, moan tired moan,

That she her plaints a little while doth stay,
Pausing for means to mourn some newer way. 1365

At last she calls to mind where hangs a piece

Of skilful painting, made for Priam's Troy;

Before the which is drawn the power of Greece,

For Helen's rape the city to destroy,

Threatening cloud-kissing Ilion with annoy; 137°

Which the conceited painter drew so proud.
As heaven, it seem'd, to kiss the turrets bow'd.

A thousand lamentable objects there.
In scorn of nature, art gave lifeless life :
Many a dry drop seem'd a weeping tear, 1375

Shed for the slaughter'd husband by the wife:
The red blood reek'd to show the painter's strife ;
And dying eyes gleam'd forth their ashy lights.
Like dying coals burnt out in tedious nights.

There might you see the labouring pioner 1380

Begrim'd with sweat and smeared all with dust;
And from the towers of Troy there would appear
The very eyes of men through loop-holes thrust.
Gazing upon the Greeks with little lust:

Such sweet observance in this work was had 1385
That one might see those far-off eyes look sad.

In great commanders grace and majesty
You might behold, triumphing in their faces,

1380. pioner] Qq 7, 8, fyoner Qq 1-6, pioneer Lintott and Gildon.

1366. a/w«] Evidently not a picture See also S Henry VI. III. i. 67; and

in the modern sense, but hangings or Julius Casar, i. iii. 22.

painted cloths. I37I' conceited] im^native. See

1368. drawn] it2i-wn up, assembled; "conceit,"!. 701.

cf. King John, iv. ii. 118: "Where 1377. strife] ^SarV to surpass nature,

is my mother's care That such an army See Timon of Athens, I. i. 37 : "I will

could be drawn in France, And she not say of it, It tutors nature : artificial strife

hear of it ? " Lives in these touches, livelier than life "

1370. annoy] injury. See Marriage 1384. lust] pleasure ; cf. Anatomie of

Night, Hazlitt's Dodsley, xv, p. 120 : Fortune, Grosart's Greene, iii. p. 193 ;

"It has recompens'd me in part to " if thou wilt needes love, use it as a toy

know, where That close annoy lay to pass the time, whyche thou mayest

which wounded me i' th' dark." take up at thy luste, and laie downe at

thy pleasure."

118 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

In youth, quick bearing and dexterity;
And here and there the painter interlaces 1390

Pale cowards, marching on with trembling paces;
Which heartless peasants did so well resemble
That one would swear he saw them quake and tremble.

In Ajax and Ulysses, O, what art

Of physiognomy might one behold! - 1395

The face of either cipher'd cither's heart;

Their face their manners most expressly told :

In Ajax' eyes blunt rage and rigour roll'd;
But the mild glance that sly Ulysses lent
Show'd deep regard and smiling government. 1400

There pleading might you see grave Nestor stand.
As 'twere encouraging the Greeks to fight,
Making such sober action with his hand
That it beguil'd attention, charm'd the sight :
In speech, it seem'd, his beard all silver white 1405

Wagg'd up and down, and from his lips did fly
Thin winding breath which purl'd up to the sky.

About him were a press of gaping faces,
Which seem'd to swallow up his sound advice ;
All jointly listening, but with several graces, 1410

As if some mermaid did their ears entice,
Some high, some low, the painter was so nice;
The scalps of many, almost hid behind,
To jump up higher seem'd, to mock the mind.

Here one man's hand lean'd on another's head, 141 5

His nose being shadow'd by his neighbour's ear;

Here one being throng'd bears back, all boU'n and red ;

1389. quick bearing] hyphened in Qq. 1417. bolln\ boln Qq, swoln Gildon.

1 392. heartless} cowardly, as in 1. 47 1 . curies. '' See also Wright, Dialect Diet.

1396. a^AerW] expressed their several sub voc. "pirle."
characters; seel. 207. 1417. Here . . , red] There is a

1400. goverttmenf] Probably "self- man with his face flushed and swollen

control." in his efforts to force his way backward

1406. wag^d] moved ; formerly used out of a crowd that is crushing him.
in contexts where it would now sound " Thronged " means pressed by a crowd ;
ridiculous, e.g. of pines in a wind, cf. St. Mark v. 24: "as he went the
Merchant of Venice, IV. i. 76 ; and of people thronged him " ; and Pericles, I.
the eyelids, Hamlet, v. i. 290. i. loi : " the earth is throng'd By man's

1407. purV d\c\a\eA. Malone quotes oppression, " where the use is figurative.
Drayton, 4to, 1596 : " Whose stream an For "boU'n," cf. Gascoigne, Jo-
easie breath doth seem to blow ; Which casta (Cambridge ed. p. 304): "Two
on the sparkling gravel runs in purles, brothers sprang, whose raging hateful!
As though the waves had been of silver hearts, By force of boyling yre are bolne

LUCRECE 119

Another smother'd seems to pelt and swear;

And in their rage such signs of rage they bear

As, but for loss of Nestor's golden words, 1420

It seem'd they would debate with angry swords.

For much imaginary work was there;

Conceit deceitful, so compact, so kind.

That for Achilles' image stood his spear

Grip'd in an armed hand ; himself behind 1425

Was left unseen, save to the eye of mind:

A hand, a foot, a face, a leg, a head.

Stood for the whole to be imagined.

And from the walls of strong-besieged Troy

When their brave hope, bold Hector, march'd to field, 1430

Stood many Trojan mothers sharing joy

To see their youthful sons bright weapons wield;

And to their hope they such odd action yield

That through their light joy seemed to appear,

Like bright things stain'd, a kind of heavy fear. 1435

And from the strand of Dardan, where they fought,

To Simois' reedy banks the red blood ran,

Whose waves to imitate the battle sought

With swelling ridges; and their ranks began

To break upon the galled shore, and than 1440

1429. strong-besieged] hyphened by Sewell. 1431. Trojan] Q 8 ; Troian

Qq I, 6, 7 ; Troyan Q 2 ; Troiane Qq 3-5. 1436. strand] Ewing, strond Qq.

so sore As each doth thyrst to sucke the 1422. imaginary] imaginative, work

others bloude." Malone cites Golding-s of the imagination. So in Henry V.

Ovid, viii. 1. 1003 : " Her leannesse Act I. Prologue, 18, where those present

made her joynts bolne big, and knee- are asked to picture to themselves what

pannes for to swell"; and Phser's^Kdz'rf, cannot be represented on the stage:

bk. X.: "with what bravery bolne in "And let us, ciphers to this great

pride King Turnus prosperous rides," accompt, On your imaginary forces

where "bolne" translates "tumidus." work."

1418. feU] Here probably "storm or 1423. compact] well-composed,

rage " ; see the various meanings given 1423. kind] natural, appropriate,

in ^«^. Dialect Diet. almost "life-like." The sense is akin

142 1, debate] fight; cf. Spenser, to that in the New Eng. Dictionary's

Faerie Queene, III. ix. 14: "Both quotation from Gosson's £/A«fflie?-jV&j 0/'

were full loth to leave that needful tent, Phialo : "It is but kinde \i.e. accord -

And both full loth in darkenesse to ing to nature] for a Cockes head to

debate"; ibid. vi. iv. 30: "Ne any breede a. Combe."

dares with him for it debate"; and 1436. Dardan] See Recuyell of the

Caxton, Recuyell of the Historyes of Historyes of Troye, ed. Sommer, i. 37 :

Troye, ed. Sommer, i. 220: "And yf "This cytewas that tyme named dar-

thow wylt debate and fyghte for her, dane after the name of dardanus but

assemble thy power and make the redy afterward hit was callyd Troye."

in thy bataylle." 1440. Ma»] then. The former is not

120

SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Retire again, till meeting greater ranks

They join and shoot their foam at Simois' banks.

To this well-painted piece is Lucrece come,
To find a face where all distress is stell'd.
Many she sees where cares have carved some,
But none where all distress and dolour dwell'd,
Till she despairing Hecuba beheld,

Staring on Priam's wounds with her old eyes.
Which bleeding under Pyrrhus' proud foot lies.

1445

In her the painter had anatomiz'd 1450

Time's ruin, beauty's wreck, and grim care's reign :
Her cheeks with chaps and wrinkles were disguis'd ;
Of what she was no semblance did remain:
Her blue blood chang'd to black in every vein.

Wanting the spring that those shrunk pipes had

fed, 1455

Show'd life imprison'd in a body dead.

1451. wreck'] Tvracke Qq 1-3, wrack Qq 4-8.
Qq 1-6.

1452. chaps'] Qq 7, 8 ; chops

a poetic licence, as Malone thought.
It occurs very frequently in both prose
and poetry, and has Anglo-Saxon and
Gothic precedent.

1444. steWd]. Possibly =" fixed "
(M.E. "stellen" is to set or estab-
lish). Prof. Case refers to Craig's
note on Lear, III. vii. 64, in this
series. Malone, reading stiFd, quotes
Sonnet xxiv. : " Mine eye hath play'd
the painter and hath steel'd Thy
beauty's form in table of my heart."
He explains "steel'd" as "drawn,''
and remarks : ' ' This therefore I suppose
to have been the word intended here,
which the poet altered for the sake of
rhyme [a mistake, for the rime is the
same]. . . . He might, however, have
written : ' where all distress is spell'd,'
i.e. written. So, in The Comedy of
Errors [v. i. 299] : ' And careful hours
with times deformed hand Have written
strange defeatures in my face.' " Mr.
Wyndham reads "steel'd" in the sense
of "engraved," quoting for Shakes-
peare's use of a verb, to " steel," 'i^'enus
and Adonis, 377 : "O give it me, lest
thy hard heart do Steele it, And being
steeld, soft sighes can never grave it."
The obvious objection that these lines
represent steeling and engraving as in-

compatible he answers thus : " ' Soft
sighs,' naturally, cannot grave a sub-
stance that has been ' steel'd. ' But the
Poet's eye, in Sonnet xxiv., could, like
a painter, steel or engrave the Friend's
' beauty's form ' on ' the table of his
heart,' and the sorrows of Hecuba may
well be said (Lucrece, 1444) to have
steel'd or engraven all distress in her
face. That steel'd ( = engraved) was
intended is confirmed by the next line :
' Many (faces) she sees where cares have
carvid some.' "

1445. where . . , some] The same
idea is characteristically expressed by
Hood, The Sea of Death, 1. 26 : "where
care had set His crooked autograph."

1450. anatomized] dissected; hence
described minutely, painted with the
details of a pre-Raffaelite. Cf. Greene's
Mourning Garment (Grosart, ix. 123) :
" Wherein (Gentlemen) looke to see the
vanity of youth, so perfectly anatomised,
that you may see every veine, muscle,
and arterie of her unbridled follies " ;
and Defence of Conny-catching (xi. p.
50) : " So that you have herein done
the part of a good subject, and a, good
schoUer, to anotomize such secret
villanies as are practised by cozening
companions."

LUCRECE 121

On this sad shadow Lucrece spends her eyes,.

And shapes her sorrow to the beldam's woes,

Who nothing wants to answer her but cries,

And bitter words to ban her cruel foes: 1460

The painter was no god to lend her those;

And therefore Lucrece swears he did her wrong.
To give her so much grief and not a tongue.

" Poor instrument," quoth she, " without a sound,
I'll tune thy woes with my lamenting tongue, 1465

And drop sweet balm in Priam's painted wound.
And rail on Pyrrhus that hath done him wrong,
And with my tears quench Troy that burns so long.
And with my knife scratch out the angry eyes
Of all the Greeks that are thine enemies. 1470

"Show me the strumpet that began this stir.
That with my nails her beauty I may tear.
Thy heat of lust, fond Paris, did incur
This load of wrath that burning Troy doth bear :
Thy eye kindled the fire that burneth here; 1475

And here in Troy, for trespass of thine eye,
The sire, the son, the dame and daughter die.

" Why should the private pleasure of some one

Become the public plague of many moe?

Let sin, alone committed, light alone 1480

Upon his head that hath transgressed so;

Let guiltless souls be freed from guilty woe :

For one's offence why should so many fall.

To plague a private sin in general?

"Lo, here weeps Hecuba, here Priam dies, 1485

Here manly Hector faints, here Troilus swounds.
Here friend by friend in bloody channel lies.
And friend to friend gives unadvised wounds,

i486, swounds] Malone, sounds Qq.

1457. shadow] painted form; cf. iv. v. 19: "Our general doth salute

Fareive/l io FoUze {Gicoss.it' s Greene, ix. you with a kiss. — Yet is this kindness

248): " Then sir, let me say . . . that but particular; 'Twere better she

Apelles boies aimed at selfe love for were kiss'd in general. "

grinding colours for their maisters i486, sjtiounds] swoons ; cf. Julius

shadowes"; and note. Merchant of Casar, I. ii. 253; Hamlet, v. ii. 319.

Venice, II. ix. 65, in this series. Coleridge uses the noun in The Ancient

1479. moe] more in number ; an ob- Mariner, 1. 392.

solete form used by Shakespeare more 1488. unadvised] unintentional ; cf.

than thirty times. Two Gentlemen of Verona, IV. iv. 127 :

1484. in general] upon the whole " Pardon me, madam, I have un-

community^; cf Troilus and Cressida, advised Deliver'd you a paper. "

122 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

And one man's lust these many lives confounds:

Had doting Pdam check'd his son's desire, 1490

Troy had been bright with fame and not with fire."

Here feelingly she weeps Troy's painted woes ;

For sorrow, like a heavy-hanging bell

Once set on ringing, with his own weight goes;

Then little strength rings out the doleful knell : 1495

So Lucrece, set a-work, sad tales doth tell

To pencill'd pensiveness and colour'd sorrow;

She lends them words, and she their looks doth
borrow.

She throws her eyes about the painting round.
And who she finds forlorn she doth lament. 1500

At last she sees a wretched image bound.
That piteous looks to Phrygian shepherds lent:
His face, though full of cares, yet show'd content ;
Onward to Troy with the blunt swains he goes,
So mild that Patience seem'd to scorn his woes. 1505

In him the painter labour'd with his skill
To hide deceit and give the harmless show
An humble gait, calm looks, eyes wailing still,
A brow unbent, that seem'd to welcome woe;
Cheeks neither red nor pale, but mingled so 1510

That blushing red no guilty instance gave,
Nor ashy pale the fear that false hearts have.

But, like a constant and confirmed devil.

He entertain'd a show so seeming just,

And therein so ensconc'd his secret evil, 1515

1491. been] Q 8, bin Qq 1-7. 1493- heavy-hanging] hyphened in Q 8.

1496. a-work] a worke Qq 1-6, one word in Qq 7, 8. 1499. painting] Qq 1,2;
painted Qq 3-8. 1504. the] these Qq 5-8. 1508. wailing] vailing Anon,
conj.

1494. on ringing] the older form of 103: "I have received A certain in-

a' ringing. stance \i.e. proof positive] that Glen-

1497. pencill'd] painted. See Timon dower is dead." In Julius Casar, iv.

of Athens, l. i. 159: "Painting is ii. 16, "familiar instances" means

welcome . . . these pencill'd figures tokens of good will,
are Even such as they give out." 15 14. entertain'd a show] assumed

1499. about . . . round] i.e. round or rather maintained the appearance

about the painting ; that painted is read of an honest man. See Merchant^ of

by the third and later quartos seems to Venice, I. i. 90 : " And do a wilful

show that Shakespeare did not revise stillness entertain''; Richard II. 11. ii.

them. \: "And entertain a cheerful disposi-

1511. guilty instance] evidence or tion."
proof of guilt ; cf. ^ Henry IV. in. i.

LUCRECE

123

That jealousy itself could not mistrust

False creeping craft and perjury should thrust

Into so bright a day such black-fac'd storms,
Or blot with hell-born sin such saint-like forms.

The well-skill'd workman this mild image drew 1520

For perjur'd Sinon, whose enchanting story

The credulous old Priam after slew;

Whose words, like wildfire, burnt the shining glory

Of rich-built Ilion, that the skies were sorry.

And little stars shot from their fixed places, 1525

When their glass fell wherein they view'd their faces.

This picture she advisedly perus'd,

And chid the painter for his wondrous skill,

Saying, some shape in Sinon's was abus'd ;

So fair a form lodg'd not a mind so ill: 1530

1517. False creeping] Fabe-creeping Malone.

1^16. j'ea/ousy] suspicion; as in
Twelfth Night, III. iii. 8 : " But
jealousy what might befall your
travel, Being skilless in these parts";
and Cymbeline, IV. iii. 22: "We'll
slip you for a season ; but our jealousy
Does yet depend."

1521. enchanting] deluding as if by
witchcraft. See Titus Andronicus, IV.
iv. 89: "I will enchant the old
Andronicus With words more sweet,
and yet more dangerous Than baits
to fish." So in Hakluyt's Voyages
(1904), iv. p. 207: "The Duke of
Parma by these wiles enchanted and
dazeled the eyes of many English &
Dutchmen."

1523. •wildfire] According to Smyth's
Sailor's Word-Book, "A pyrotechnical
preparation burning with great fierce-
ness, whether under water or not ; it
is analogous to the ancient Greek fire,
and is composed mainly of sulphur,
naphtha, and pitch."

1525, 1526. And . . . faces] Malone
compared Midsummer-Night's Dream,
II. i. 153: "And certain stars shot
madly from their spheres," where the
context is different, and missed the
more probable sense by a literal in-
terpretation — "Why Priam's palace,
however beautiful or magnificent, should
be called the mirrour in which the fixed
stars behold themselves, I do not see."
But " glass " was used like map, mould,
etc., to denote a counterpart or exact

representation, see Sonnets, iii. 9 :
"Thou art thy mother's glass and she
in thee Calls back the lovely April
of her prime"; and 11. 1758-1764
post. Boswell quotes, without com-
ment, what "Lydgate says of Priam's
palace," Troy Book, ii. 965: "That
verely when [so] the sonne shone,
Upon the golde meynt {i.e. mingled]
amonge the stone. They gave a lyght
withouten any were, As doth Apollo
in his mid - day sphere." Possibly
Shakespeare was thinking of Lyd-
gate's description of Priam's city
rather than of " his paleys princypal
callyd Illyoun," see ibid. 11. 661-667 '•
" thei putten in stede of morter,
In the Joynturys copur gilt ful

clere,
To make hem Joyne by level &

by lyne.
Among the marble freschely for

to shine
Agein the sonne, whan his schene

lyght
Smote in the gold, that was

horned bryght.
To make the werk gletere on
every side."
These clamps of copper, gilt and
burnished, joining blocks of marble,
of which all the houses in Troy were
built, might very well have been com-
pared to stars.

1527. advisedly] See note on 1. 180.

124

SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

And still on him she gaz'd, and gazing still

Such signs of truth in his plain face she spied
That she concludes the picture was belied.

" It cannot be," quoth she, " that so much guile " —
She would have said "can lurk in such a look;" 1535

But Tarquin's shape came in her mind the while,
And from her tongue " can lurk " from " cannot " took :
" It cannot be " she in that sense forsook.

And turn'd it thus, " It cannot be, I find,

But such a face should bear a wicked mind: 1540

" For even as subtle Sinon here is painted,

So sober-sad, so weary and so mild,

As if with grief or travail he had fainted,

To me came Tarquin armed; so beguil'd

With outward honesty, but yet defil'd 1545

1542. sober-sad] hyphened by Malone (Capell MS.). IS44' artned ; so be-

guiled] Malone, armed so beguild Gildon, armed, so beguiVd SeweU, armed to
beguild Qq 1-7, armed to beguiPd Q 8.

1532. plain] honest; as in Julius
CcBsar, III. ii. 222.

1544. To . . , beguil'd] If a change
is needed, I should be inclined to
read "To me came Tarquin, armed
so, beguil'd With outward honesty,"
etc., meaning he came so armed as
Sinon was, viz. with the weapons
of hypocrisy, sober - sadness, weari-
ness, mildness. That there is no
reference to Lucrece's bedroom and
Tarquin's intrusion sword in hand, is
shown by 1. 154?. As Sinon arrives
and is welcomed by Priam, so Tarquin
arrives and is welcomed by Lucrece.
Sinon's treachery and Tarquin's outrage
are alike later than their arrival.
Malone, to whom we are indebted for
the pointing of the text, explains
"armed" as above, and "beguiled"
as beguiling, comparing delighted=
delighting, in Othello,!, iii. 290: "If
virtue no delighted beauty lack," on
which see Hart's note in this series.
Steevens accepts Malone's reading, and
renders "beguiled" by "so cover'd,
so mask'd with fraud," comparing
Merchant of Venice, III. ii. 97 ; " Thus
ornament is but the guiled shore To
a most dangerous sea." Mr. Wyndham
reads: "To me came Tarquin, armed
to begild With outward honesty," but
does not explain, though he rightly
says that "guild" for " gild " is found

elsewhere. His objections to Malone's
reading are that (i) so great an error
as "armed to beguild" for "armed;
so beguild, " would be without a parallel
in the carefully printed Quarto (1594) ;

(2) the (;) would be unusual, if not
unparalleled at this point in the stanza ;

(3) the (;) would deprive the epithet
' ' armed " of meaning, reducing it to
padding ; (4) the emendation demands
that " beguil'd "= beguiling, and (5)
makes the grammatical construction
of the whole stanza most awkward.
These objections do not apply to the
pointing I have suggested, with the
exception of (4), beguiled = beguiling,
and this actually occurs in the Eliza-
bethan translation of Seneca's plays,
Tenne Tragedies (Spenser Soc. Part i.
p. 10) ; " And either his begiled hookes
doth bayte. Or els beholds and feeles
the pray from hye With paised hand,"
though there the form may be due to
the original "deceptos instruit hamos."
I once thought "beguild" might be a
corrupt form of '" beguile " ; an ex-
crescent "t" or "d" is common, e.g.
twind, and twinde for twine (Gas-
coigne's Poesies, Cambridge ed. pp.
loi, 142), shoulds for shoals (Hakluyt,
reprint 1904, vol. iv. p. 212), vilde
for vile (revived by Scott, Lay, III.
xiii.), graft and wcift, now current for
graffe and waffe.

LUCRECE 125

With inward vice: as Priam him did cherish,
So did I Tarquin; so my Troy did perish.

"Look, look, how listening Priam wets his eyes,

To see those borrow'd tears that Sinon sheds !

Priam, why art thou old and yet not wise? 1550

For every tear he falls a Trojan bleeds:

His eye drops fire, no water thence proceeds;

Those round clear pearls of his that move thy pity
Are balls of quenchless fire to burn thy city.

"Such devils steal effects from lightless hell; 1555

For Sinon in his fire doth quake with cold.

And in that cold hot-burning fire doth dwell ;

These contraries such unity do hold.

Only to flatter fools and make them bold:

So Priam's trust false Sinon's tears doth flatter, 1560
That he finds means to burn his Troy with water."

Here, all enrag'd, such passion her assails.

That patience is quite beaten from her breast.

She tears the senseless Sinon with her nails.

Comparing him to that unhappy guest 1565

Whose deed hath made herself herself detest:

At last she smilingly with this gives o'er;

" Fool, fool ! " quoth she, " his wounds will not be sore."

Thus ebbs and flows the current of her sorrow,
And time doth weary time with her complaining. IS70
She looks for night, and then she longs for morrow.
And both she thinks too long with her remaining:
Short time seems long in sorrow's sharp sustaining:
Though woe be heavy, yet it seldom sleeps.
And they that watch see time how slow it creeps. 1575

Which all this time hath overslipp'd her thought.
That she with painted images hath spent;
Being from the feeling of her own grief brought
By deep surmise of others' detriment,

1552. eye drops'] eyes drops Qq S, 6 ; eyes drop Qq 7, 8. 1554- thyl the

Qq 7, 8. 1557. hot-burning] hyphened by Gildon.

1549. borrow' d]f^gneA; cf. 1 Henry 1555, 1556- Such . . . cold] So the

IV. V. iii. 23: "A borrow'd title hast Pseudo-Csedmon's Satan says of hell

thou bought too dear." (ed. Thorpe, p. 273): "hwsether hat

1551. falls] drops, sheds ; as in [ond] ceald hwilum mencgath."
Richard II. in. iv. 104.

126 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Losing her woes in shows of discontent. 1580

It easeth some, though none it ever cured,
To think their dolour others have endured.

But now the mindful messenger come back

Brings home his lord and other company;

Who finds his Lucrece clad in mourning black: 1585

And round about her tear-distained eye

Blue circles stream'd, like rainbows in the sky:
These water-galls in her dim element
Foretell new storms to those already spent.

Which when her sad-beholding husband saw, iSpo

Amazedly in her sad face he stares:

Her eyes, though sod in tears, look'd red and raw.

Her lively colour kill'd with deadly cares.

He hath no power to ask her how she fares :

Both stood, like old acquaintance in a trance, 1595
Met far from home, wondering each other's chance.

At last he takes her by the bloodless hand.

And thus begins : " What uncouth ill event

Hath thee befall'n, that thou dost trembling stand?

Sweet love, what spite hath thy fair colour spent? 1600

Why art thou thus attir'd in discontent?

Unmask, dear dear, this moody heaviness,
And tell thy grief, that we may give redress."

Three times with sighs she gives her sorrow fire,

Ere once she can discharge one word of woe: 1605

At length address'd to answer his desire,

1583. come] comes Qq 3-8. 1590. sad-beholding] hyphened by Sewell.

1582. To . . . endured] Cf. Richard weather if seen to leeward." The

//. V. V. 23 : " Thoughts tending to meaning here is probably the broken

content flatter themselves That they rainbows that sailors call "dogs."
are not the first of fortune's slaves . . . 1592. sod] sodden, seethed. For a

And in the thought they find a kind of somewhat similar trifling with the literal

ease." meaning, see Troilus and Cressida, lii.

1586. <fcto»isrf] Elsewhere in Shake- i. 44: "Sodden business! there's a

speare used figuratively, see 1. 786 ; stewed phrase indeed ! "
3xA Richard III. ^.\-a. 'i'^2. 15^3. lively] life-like, living; cf.

1588. waier-galls]See Smyth, Saiior's Titus Andronicus, ni. i. 105: "Had

Word-Book: "Water-gall. A name I but seen thy picture in this plight It

of the wind-gall"; "Wind-gall. A would have madded me: what shall

luminous halo on the edge of a distant I do Now I behold thy lively body so ? "

cloud, where there is rain, usually seen and Romeus and Juliet, Hazlitt's Shaks.

in the wind's eye, and looked upon as Lib. p. 97 : " They [the fatal sisters

a sure precursor of stormy weather, three] may, in spite of foes, draw foorth

Also, an atmospheric effect of prismatic my lively thred," i.e. my thread of

colours, said likewise to indicate bad life.

LUCRECE 127

She modestly prepares to let them know
Her honour is ta'en prisoner by the foe;

While Collatine and his consorted lords

With sad attention long to hear her words. 1610

And now this pale swan in her watery nest
Begins the sad dirge of her certain ending;
" Few words," quoth she, " shall fit the trespass best,
Where no excuse can give the fault amending:
In me moe woes than words are now depending; 1615
And my laments would be drawn out too long,
To tell them all with one poor tired tongue.

"Then be this all the task it hath to say:

Dear husband, in the interest of thy bed

A stranger came, and on that pillow lay 1620

Where thou wast wont to rest thy weary head;

And what wrong else may be imagined

By foul enforcement might be done to me.
From that, alas, thy Lucrece is not free.

" For in the dreadful dead of dark midnight, 1625

With shining falchion in my chamber came
A creeping creature, with a flaming light.
And softly cried ' Awake, thou Roman dame.
And entertain my love; else lasting shame

On thee and thine this night I will inflict, 1630

If thou my love's desire do contradict.

" ' For some hard-favour'd groom of thine,' quoth he,

' Unless thou yoke thy liking to my will,

I'll murder straight, and then I'll slaughter thee,

And swear I found you where you did fulfil 1635

The loathsome act of lust, and so did kill

The lechers in their deed : this act will be

My fame, and thy perpetual infamy.'

"With this, I did begin to start and cry;

And then against my heart he set his sword, 1640

Swearing, unless I took all patiently,

I should not live to speak another word ;

So should my shame still rest upon record.

And never be forgot in mighty Rome

The adulterate death of Lucrece and her groom. 1645

1615. moe] Qq 1-3, more Qq 5-8. 164O. se(] sets Qq 2-8.
161 1, swani Cf. Merchant of Venice, in. ii. 44; Othello, v, ii. 247.

128 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

" Mine enemy was strong, my poor self weak,

And far the weaker with so strong a fear:

My bloody judge forbade my tongue to speak ;

No rightful plea might plead for justice there:

His scarlet lust came evidence to swear 1650

That my poor beauty had purloin'd his eyes;

And when the judge is robb'd, the prisoner dies.

" O, teach me how to make mine own excuse !

Or, at the least, this refuge let me find;

Though my gross blood be stain 'd with this abuse, 1655

Immaculate and spotless is my mind ;

That was not forc'd ; that never was inclin'd
To accessary yieldings, but still pure
Doth in her poison'd closet yet endure."

Lo, here, the hopeless merchant of this loss, 1660

With head declin'd, and voice damm'd up with woe.
With sad set eyes and wretched arms across.
From lips new-waxen pale begins to blow
The grief away that stops his answer so :

But, wretched as he is, he strives in vain ; 1665

What he breathes out his breath drinks up again.

As through an arch the violent roaring tide
Outruns the eye that doth behold his haste,
Yet in the eddy boundeth in his pride
Back to the strait that forc'd him on so fast, 1670

In rage sent out, recall'd in rage, being past:
Even so his sighs, his sorrows, make a saw.
To push grief on and back the same grief draw.

1648. foybade] forbad Qq I, 2 ; forbad Qq 3-8. 1661. declined] inclin'd

Qq 2-8. 1662. sad sef] sad-set Malone ; wretched] wreathed Dyce ed. 2 (S.
Walker conj.).

1650. jcizW«/ /«J<] " A conceit drawn diets 1. 1669. There is a main tide

from ajudge's scarlet robe " (Wyndham). running violently forward and a counter-

Cf. "Thou scarlet sin," addressed to tide running violently back.
Cardinal Wolsey, Henry VIII. III. 1672, 1673. Even . . . draw] His

ii. 255. sighs make a saw, the tool so called, of

1658. accessary yieldings] yielding his sorrows by pushing grief forwards

that would make me an accessary to the and drawing it back again ; i.e. his sighs

crime. gave him only momentary relief, a

1667. ^j through an arch . . .] repetition of 11. 1663-1666, he sighs

Dr. Furnivall says : "It was no doubt away his grief and drinks it up again,

from looking over this Nonesuch or the Care is a saw, though not driven by

more Northern gap in the [Old London] sighs, in Nicholas Breton, Chertsey

Bridge houses" that Shakespeare got Worthies' Library, 27 b: "Since

this stanza. See Temporary Foretalk cruel care, not like a carving knife,

to Harrison, Part III. p. 6t. But like a Sawe, still hackling to and

1671. In . . . past] Farmer's con- froe Thus gnawes my heart, with gripes

jecture "the rage being past" contra- of weary woe."

LUCRECE 129

Which speechless woe of his poor she attendeth

And his untimely frenzy thus awaketh: 1675

"Dear lord, thy sorrow to my sorrow lendeth

Another power ; no flood by raining slaketh. *

My woe too sensible thy passion maketh

More feeling-painful : let it then suffice

To drown one woe, one pair of weeping eyes. 1680

" And for my sake, when I might charm thee so.

For she that was thy Lucrece, now attend me :

Be suddenly revenged on my foe.

Thine, mine, his own : suppose thou dost defend me

From what is past: the help that thou shalt lend me 1685

Comes all too late, yet let the traitor die ;

For sparing justice feeds iniquity.

" But ere I name him, you fair lords," quoth she.

Speaking to those that came with Collatine,

"Shall plight your honourable faiths to me, 1690

With swift pursuit to venge this wrong of mine;

For 'tis a meritorious fair design

To chase injustice with revengeful arms :
Knights, by their oaths, should right poor ladies'
harms."

At this request, with noble disposition 169S

Each present lord began to promise aid.

As bound in knighthood to her imposition.

Longing to hear the hateful foe bewray'd.

But she, that yet her sad task hath not said,

The protestation stops. "O, speak," quoth she, 1700
" How may this forced stain be wiped from me ?

"What is the quality of my offence.

Being constrain'd with dreadful circumstance?

May my pure mind with the foul act dispense,

1680. one] on Qq I, 2 ; in Malone conj. 1702. my\ mine Qq 3-8.

1680. one woej It is perhaps in favour 1682. sAe'] her.

of OK (Q I Q 2) that the resemblance 1687. For . . . iniquity] Malone

between the old pronunciation of "one" compares Romeo and Juliet, in. i. 202 :

and "on" is sufficient for a pun in "Mercy but murders, pardoning those

Two Gentlemen of Verona, 11. i. 2 : that kill."

"my gloves are on. — Why, then, this 1694. Knights . . . harms] The

may be yours, for this is but one. " anachronism is noted by Malone.

For "drown," cf. Twelfth Night, 11. i. 1697. imposition] injunction, charge,

31: "drown her remembrance"; and as in Merchant of Venice, i. ii. 114;

3 Henry VI. 11. i. 104: "Ten days Troilm and Cressida, lu. ii. 86.
ago I drown'd these news in tears,"

9

130. SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

My low-declined honour to advance? 170S

May any terms acquit me from this chance?

The poison'd fountain clears itself again ;

And why not I from this compelled stain?"

With this, they all at once began to say,

Her body's stain her mind untainted clears; 17 10

While with a joyless smile she turns away

The face, that map which deep impression bears

Of hard misfortune, carv'd in it with tears.

"No, no," quoth she, "no dame hereafter living

By my excuse shall claim excuse's giving." 17 15

Here with a sigh, as if her heart would break.
She throws forth Tarquin's name : " He, he," she says,
But more than "he" her poor tongue could not speak;
Till after many accents and delays.

Untimely breathings, sick and short assays, 1720

She utters this : " He, he, fair lords, 'tis he,
That guides this hand to give this wound to me."

Even here she sheathed in her harmless breast

A harmful knife, that thence her soul unsheathed:

That blow did bail it from the deep unrest 1725

Of that polluted prison where it breathed :

Her contrite sighs unto the clouds bequeathed

Her winged sprite, and through her wounds doth fly
Life's lasting date from cancell'd destiny.

Stone-still, astonish'd with this deadly deed, 1730

Stood Collatine and all his lordly crew ;
Till Lucrece' father, that beholds her bleed.
Himself on her self-slaughter'd body threw ;

1705. low-decHned\ hyphened by Malone. 1710. her mind] he mmii Q j,
the mind Qq 4-8. 1712. The] Her Hudson (S. Walker conj.) ; That Kinnear
conj. that] the Kinnear conj. 1713- in it] Malone (Capell MS.), it in Qq
1-7, in Q 8. 1721. lords] lord Qq 3-8. 1730. Stone-stiH] hyphened in
Qq 7. 8.

1712. map] Cf. S Henry VI. III. Painter, /Vz/a^ «/■ /"/eararg (ed. Jacobs,

i. 203: "in thy face I see The map i. 24): "As for my part, though I

of honour, truth and loyalty " ; and cleare my selfe of the offence, my

Titus Andronicus, III. ii. 12; but here body shall feele the punishment; for

there is a special allusion to the lines no unchast or ill woman, shall hereafter

in a map, somewhat as in the jesting impute no dishonest act to Lucrece."
reference in Twelfth Night, in. ii. 85. 1730. astonish'd] astounded, thunder-

1714, 1715] no dame . . . giving] struck; cf. Venus and Adonis, \. 825;

Malone compares Livy, i. 58, and 3.nA Julius Casar, I. iii. 56.

LUCRECE 131

And from the purple fountain Brutus drew

The murderous knife, and, as it left the place, 1735
Her blood, in poor revenge, held it in chase;

And bubbling from her breast, it doth divide

In two slow rivers, that the crimson blood

Circles her body in on every side.

Who, like a late-sack'd island, vastly stood 1740

Bare and unpeopled in this fearful flood.

Some of her blood still pure and red remain'd,

And some look'd black, and that false Tarquin stain'd.

About the mourning and congealed face

Of that black blood a watery rigol goes, 1745

Which seems to weep upon the tainted place:

And ever since, as pitying Lucrece' woes.

Corrupted blood some watery token shows;
And blood untainted still doth red abide,
Blushing at that which is so putrified. 1750

" Daughter, dear daughter," old Lucretius cries,

" That life was mine which thou hast here deprived.

If in the child the father's image lies.

Where shall I live now Lucrece is unlived?

Thou wast not to this end from me derived. 1755

If children pre-decease progenitors.
We are their offspring, and they none of ours.

"Poor broken glass, I often did behold
In thy sweet semblance my old age new born :
But now that fair fresh mirror, dim and old, 1760

Shows me a bare-bon'd death by time outworn :
O, from thy cheeks my image thou hast torn,
And shiver'd all the beauty of my glass,
That I no more can see what once I was.

1762. i&y'] mj> Qq 3-8. 1763. of] from Qq ^-S.

1736. AeM it in chase] Cf. Julius 1753- image] Malone compares

Casar, III. ii. 181-184: "And as he Richard III. II. ii. 50: "I have be-

pluck'd his cursed steel away, Mark wept a worthy husband's death, And

how the blood of Csesar foUow'd it, lived by looking on his im^es," i.e.

As rushing out of doors, to be resolved children.

If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no." 1758. glass] Cf. 1. 1526.

1740. Who] which ; cf. 1. 1805. 1761. deatK] image or representation

1740. vastly] i.e. like a waste of death, often found in the sense of

(Malone). skull or skeleton, e.g. Love's Labour's

1745. rigoT] a circle (Malone). Lost, v. ii. 616: "A Death's face in a

Steevens cites S Henry IV, IV. v. 36 : ring" ; Merchant of Venice, 11. vii. 63 :

"this is a sleep That from this golden "A carrion death." Steevens quotes

rigol hath divorced So many English King John, v. ii. 177: "and in his

kings." forehead sits A bare-ribb'd death."

132 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

"O time, cease thou thy course and last no longer, 1765

If they surcease to be that should survive.

Shall rotten death make conquest of the stronger,

And leave the faltering feeble souls alive?

The old bees die, the young possess their hive :

Then live, sweet Lucrece, live again, and see 1770

Thy father die, and not thy father thee ! "

By this, starts Collatine as from a dream.

And bids Lucretius give his sorrow place;

And then in key-cold Lucrece' bleeding stream

He falls, and bathes the pale fear in his face, 1775

And counterfeits to die with her a space;

Till manly shame bids him possess his breath,

And live to be revenged on her death.

The deep vexation of his inward soul

Hath serv'd a dumb arrest upon his tongue; 1780

Who, mad that sorrow should his use control

Or keep him from heart-easing words so long,

Begins to talk; but through his lips do throng

Weak words, so thick come in his poor heart's aid
That no man could distinguish what he said. 1785

Yet sometime " Tarquin " was pronounced plain.
But through his teeth, as if the name he tore.
This windy tempest, till it blow up rain,
Held back his sorrow's tide, to make it more;
At last it rains, and busy winds give o'er: 1790

Then son and father weep with equal strife
Who should weep most, for daughter or for wife.

The one doth call her his, the other his,

Yet neither may possess the claim they lay.

The father says "She's mine." "O, mine she is," 1795

Replies her husband : " do not take away

My sorrow's interest ; let no mourner say

He weeps for her, for she was only mine,

And only must be wail'd by Collatine."

"O," quoth Lucretius, "I did give that life 1800

Which she too early and too late hath spill'd."

1765. last] hast Qq 3-8, haste Gildon. 1766. they\ thou Qq 3-8. 1787.
the\ his Qq 3-8. 1788. blow] bleia Q 8.

1774. key-cold] Cf. Richard III. I. ii. 1776. And . . , space] i.e. lies in a
5 : "Poor key-cold figure of a holy death-like swoon,
icing " (Steevens).

LUCRECE 133

" Woe, woe," quoth Collatine, " she was my wife ;

I ow'd her, and 'tis mine that she hath kill'd."

" My daughter " and " my wife " with clamours fill'd

The dispers'd air, who, holding Lucrece' life, 1805

Answer'd their cries, " my daughter " and " my wife."

Brutus, who pluck'd the knife from Lucrece' side.

Seeing such emulation in their woe,

Began to clothe his wit in state and pride.

Burying in Lucrece' wound his folly's show. 18 10

He with the Romans was esteemed so
As silly jeering idiots are with kings,
For sportive words and uttering foolish things :

But now he throws that shallow habit by

Wherein deep policy did him disguise, 1815

And arm'd his long-hid wits advisedly

To check the tears in Collatinus' eyes.

" Thou wronged lord of Rome," quoth he, " arise :
Let my unsounded self, supposed a fool,
Now set thy long-experienc'd wit to school. 1820

"Why, Collatine, is woe the cure for woe?

Do wounds help wounds, or grief help grievous deeds?

Is it revenge to give thyself a blow

For his foul act by whom thy fair wife bleeds?

Such childish humour from weak minds proceeds: 1825
Thy wretched wife mistook the matter so.
To slay herself, that should have slain her foe.

" Courageous Roman, do not steep thy heart

In such relenting dew of lamentations,

But kneel with me and help to bear thy part 1830

To rouse our Roman gods with invocations

That they will suffer these abominations.

Since Rome herself in them doth stand disgraced.
By our strong arms from forth her fair streets chased.

1812. silly jeering] silly-jeering Malone ; jeering] leering Qq 7) 8. 1815.
deep] the Qq 5-8, true Sewell. 1829. relenting] lamenting Qq 5-8. 1834.
her fair streets] her streets be Capell MS.

1803. ow'd] owned ; cf. Macbeth, I. " Gloucester is a man Unsounded yet

iv. 10. and full of deep deceit."

1819. unsounded] Used literally in 1821. Why] An exclamation of im-

Two Gentlemen of Verona, III. ii. 81 : patience, as in Merchant of Venice, 11.

" unsounded deeps," and figuratively, v. 6.
as here, in S Henry VI. m. i, 57 :

134 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

"Now, by the Capitol that we adore, 1835

And by this chaste blood so unjustly stained,

By heaven's fair sun that breeds the fat earth's store,

By all our country rights in Rome maintained

And by chaste Lucrece' soul that late complained

Her wrongs to us, and by this bloody knife, 1840

We will revenge the death of this true wife ! "

This said, he struck his hand upon his breast.

And kiss'd the fatal knife, to end his vow.

And to his protestation urg'd the rest.

Who, wondering at him, did his words allow: 1845

Then jointly to the ground their knees they bow;
And that deep vow, which Brutus made before,
He doth again repeat, and that they swore.

When they had sworn to this advised doom.
They did conclude to bear dear Lucrece thence, 1850

To show her bleeding body thorough Rome,
And so to publish Tarquin's foul offence:
Which being done with speedy diligence,
The Romans plausibly did give consent
To Tarquin's everlasting banishment. 1855

1849. this] Ms Q 7. 1851. her] the Qq 4-8. thorough] through out Q 5,
through-out Qq 7, 8. 1854. plausibly] plausively Capell MS.

1845. allow] approve ; cf. Grosart's Spanish Masquerado, Grosart's Greene,

Greene, vi. 126: "My fellow swaine v. 241 : "I have found you favourable,

has told a pretie tale Which moderne at the least smiling at my labours, with

Poets may perhaps allow, Yet I a plausible silence"; and Euphues his

condemn the terms." Censure to Philautus, ibid. vi. 199 :

Y?!^^ plausibly] with approval, " Ulysses having ended his tale with a

applaudingly ; the meaning is the same plausible silence of both parties."
as that of plausively (Capell MS. ). See

THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM

THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM

I

When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her, though I know she lies.
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
Unskilful in the world's false forgeries.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although I know my years be past the best,
I smiling credit her false-speaking tongue.
Outfacing faults in love with love's ill rest.
7. false-speaking] hyphened by Malone.

I. Cf. Sonnet cxxxviii. (differences in
italics) :

" When my love swears that • she is
made of truth,
I do believe her, though I know

she lies,
That she might think me some un-
tutor'd youth.
Unlearned in the world's false

subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks

me young,
Although she knows my days are

past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking

tongue :
On both sides thus is simple truth

sufpress'd.
But wherefore says she not she is

unjust ?
And wherefore say not I that I am

old?
O, love's best habit is in seeming

trust.
And age in love loves not to have
years told :
Therefore I lie with her and she

with me.
And in our faults by lies we
Jlattei'dht."
This is clearer and more consistent
than the form in the text, though 1. 8
sounds harsh.

137

4. forgeries'] deceits, trickeries. Even
without an epithet it is used of what
is unreal (Lucrece, 460), or untrue
(Hamlet, II. i. 20).

7. false - speaking] The Cambridge
Edd. credit Delius with the hyphen,
but it appears in Malone's transcript,
note on Sonnet cxxxviii. (1790).

8. Outfacing . . . rest] It is not
clear whether "Outfacing" should be
taken with "I" or with "tongue,"
whether "with" means "together
with" or "by means of," and what
"love's ill rest " may mean. I doubt-
fully refer "outfacing" to "tongue,"
and explain: "defending her well-
known lapses from constancy, by means
of the remaining vice in love, viz.
falsehood, i.e. meeting evidence of
guilt by perjury in her own favour."
Prof. Case writes : " It seems possible
that, though outfacing rather suggests
the action of the sinner than that of
the sufferer, it refers to smiling, and
that the sense may be : ' Dissembling
(i.e. concealing my knowledge of) faults
in love together with my own uneasi-
ness.' Outfacing agrees well enough
with loveh ill rest in this sense, and
after all, the poet has his own fault in
love to outface, the simulation of youth,
or the absence of youth."

138 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

But wherefore says my love that she is young?

And wherefore say not I that I am old? lO

O, love's best habit is a soothing tongue,

And age, in love, loves not to have years told.
Therefore I '11 lie with love, and love with me,
Since that our faults in love thus smother'd be.

II

Two loves I have, of comfort and despair.

That like two spirits do suggest me still ;

My better angel is a man right fair.

My worser spirit a woman colour'd ill.

To win me soon to hell, my female evil 5

Tempteth my better angel from my side.

And would corrupt my saint to be a devil.

Wooing his purity with her fair pride.

And whether that my angel be turn'd fiend.

Suspect I may, yet not directly tell : 10

For being both to me, both to each friend,

I guess one angel in another's hell:

The truth I shall not know, but live in doubt.

Till my bad angel fire my good one out.

II. soothing\ smoothing QAAon. II, me, both to each friend, 1 me: both, to
each friend, ed. 1599.

9. she z>] / am would give a. some- 3, 4. My . . , My] ' ' The . . .

what better sense, viz. she says I am The," Sonnet cxh'v.
young, for lovers must be flatterers, and 8. fair] foul, Sonnet cxliv. , gives a

I do not contradict her, for an old man sense more in accordance with "colour'd

in love is vain. But this is to drift ill," 1. 4.

from 1. I, where she protests her faith 10. directly] exactly, precisely. See

though she is unfaithful and he knows Merchant of Venice, I. iii. 78.
it. In return he delicately hints that 11. to me] Being both of them alike

he is young by assuming the credulity friends of mine and of each other ;

of the inexperienced. Possibly / am which does not give a satisfactory sense,

was the original reading, and she is a It would be better to read from me

partial correction, on its way to become with Sonnet cxliv., i.e. at a distance

she is unjust, i.e. unfaithful. from; cf. Lucrece, 1 144: "Some dark

11. . . . tongue] Love is best deep desert seated from the way."
clothed in flattery. Cf. Hamlet, I. iii. 12. / . . . hell] I suspect that she
70 : " Costly thy habit as thy purse can has him in her own place.

buy - . . For the apparel oft betrays 13. The . . , know] "Yet this I

the man." Gildon's smoothing for ne'er shall know," Sonnet cxliv.

soothing is unnecessary : both meant 14. Till . . . out] This may mean

"flattering.'' See C(;ra/a»«j-, II. ii. 77. merely, "drive him away from her,"

12. told] counted, reckoned up; cf. but in an unquotable epigram in
Timon of Athens, III. v. 107 : " While Guilpin's Skialetheia, the same expres-
they have told their money " ; Lov^s sion occurs : ' ' But I should loth be to
Labour's Lost, i. ii. 41: "How many be fired out.'' On Sonnet cxliv. 12,
is one thrice told ? " Prof. Dowden quotes S Henry IV.

II. See Sonnet cxliv. 11. iv. 365: "For the women? — For

2. suggest] prompt or urge. See one of them, she is in hell already, and
Lucrece, 37. burns poor souls."

THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM 139

III

Did not the heavenly rhetoric of thine eye,

'Gainst whom the world could not hold argument,

Persuade my heart to this false perjury?

Vows for thee broke deserve not punishment.

A woman I forswore; but I will prove, 5

Thou being a goddess, I forswore not thee:

My vow was earthly, thou a heavenly love;

Thy grace being gain'd cures all disgrace in me.

My vow was breath, and breath a vapour is;

Then, thou fair sun, that on this earth doth shine, lo

Exhale this vapour vow ; in thee it is :

If broken then, it is no fault of mine.

If by me broke, what fool is not so wise

To break an oath, to win a paradise?

IV

Sweet Cytherea, sitting by a brook

With young Adonis, lovely, fresh and green.

Did court the lad with many a lovely look.

Such looks as none could look but beauty's queen.

She told him stories to delight his ear, 5

She show'd him favours to allure his eye;

To win his heart, she touch'd him here and there;

Touches so soft still conquer chastity.

But whether unripe years did want conceit,

2. could no{\ cannot Malone, from Love's Labour's Lost. lo, ii. that . . .
Exhale] which on my earth dost shine, ExhaVst Malone, from Love's Labour 's
Lost. 5. ear] Malone, eares ed. 1599.

III. See Love's Labour's Lost, IV. iii. m. break] "lose," Love's Labour's

56-69. Lost, is better.

2. whom] which, i.e. the heavenly IV. 2. green] perhaps "iimocent,"

rhetoric, or possibly 'thine eye.' as in King John, in. iv. 145: "How

9. My vow was] In Love's Labour 's green you are and fresh in this old

Zoj^, "Vows are but." world."

11. Exhale] "exhalest," Love's 5. She . . . ear] Venus tells the
Labour's Lost. story of Atalanta in Ovid, Met. x.

12. If broken then,] viz. when 560-704.

exhaled. The original, followed by the 9. whether . . . conceit] whether he

Cambridge Edd., has the comma at was too young to understand. To

broken. The pointing in the text, which want is to be destitute of, as in Lucrece,

\%'Ca&\.oi Love's Labour's Lost, SshetVex: 557; and conceit is intelligence or

we need an explicit contrast to "If possibly imagination. See VIII. 7, 8

by me broke," 1. 13. If a change were post and 2 Henry IV. 11. iv. 263 : "his

needed, I should suggest "If broken wit's as thick as Tewkesbury mustard ;

there," i.e. in the sun, accounting for there 's no more conceit in him than is

then as a transference from 1, 10. in a mallet."

140 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Or he refus'd to take her figur'd proffer, 10

The tender nibbler would not touch the bait,
But smile and jest at every gentle offer:

Then fell she on her back, fair queen, and toward :
He rose and ran away; ah, fool too froward.

If love make me forsworn, how shall I swear to love?
O never faith could hold, if not to beauty vowed :
Though to myself forsworn, to thee I '11 constant prove ;
Those thoughts, to me like oaks, to thee like osiers bowed.
Study his bias leaves, and makes his book thine eyes, 5
Where all those pleasures live that art can comprehend.
If knowledge be the mark, to know thee shall suffice;
Well learned is that tongue that well can thee commend :
All ignorant that soul that sees thee without wonder;
Which is to me some praise, that I thy parts admire : lo
Thine eye Jove's lightning seems, thy voice his dreadful

thunder,
Which, not to anger bent, is music and sweet fire.
Celestial as thou art, O do not love that wrong,
To sing heaven's praise with such an earthly tongue.

10, figur'd'l sugar'd Collier conj. J. makes'] make Camb. Edd, 14.
heaven's] Gildon, heavens ed. 1599, the heavens' Malone.

10. lake] possibly "accept," and J. book] Malone compares Love's

certainly, if Collier's conjecture ja^fl;-V Zafoar'jZorf, IV. iii. 350-353: "From

for figured be accepted ; but perhaps women's eyes this doctrine I derive

better "understand," so that 11. 9, 10 ... They are the books, the arts, the

will mean "whether he really couldn't academes, That show, contain and

understand or wouldn't." Cf. xi. 12 : nourish all the world" ; cf. 11. 302, 303.

"And would not take her meaning or See also Winter's Tale, II. i. 12:

he.x-^\essa.xe" ■,^rv& Midsummer- Night's "Who taught you this? — I learnt it

Dream, v. i. 90: "Our sport shall be out of women's faces"; and Lucrece,

to take what they mistake." 100, 102.

10. figur'd proffer] signs or gestures II, 12. thy voice . . . music] So in

of invitation. See Richard III. I. ii. Antony and Cleopatra, V. ii. 83-86 :

194: "I would I knew thy heart, — "his voice was propertied As all the

"Tis figured in my tongue." tuned spheres, and that to friends :

V. See Love's Labour's Lost, IV. ii. But when he meant to quail and shake

100-113. the orb, He was as rattling thunder"

5. Study . . . leaves] The student (Steevens).

abandons his inclination to learning. 13, 14. . . . tongue] With this

As Shallow says, Merry Wives, m. i. reading the poet must be understood to

38 : " Keep a gamester from the dice, break off and appeal to himself. The

and a good student from his book, and version in Love's Labour's Lost is better:

it is wonderful." For " bias," cf. Lear, " O, pardon Love the wrong That sings

I. ii. 120: "the king falls from bias of heaven's praise with such an earthly

nature," a meaning due to the use of tongue."

"bias" for the lead inserted in a bowl 14. heaven's] "the heaven's, "Malone,

to cause it to run in a certain curve. who is mistaken in saying that this is

5. makes] The Cambridge Shake- the reading in the corresponding line

speare, followed by the Temple ed., in Love's Labour's Lost.
reads " make," seemingly a misprint.

THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM 141

VI

Scarce had the sun dried up the dewy morn,

And scarce the herd gone to the hedge for shade,

When Cytherea, all in love forlorn,

A longing tarriance for Adonis made

Under an osier growing by a brook,

A brook where Adon used to cool his spleen :

Hot was the day; she hotter that did look

For his approach, that often there had been.

Anon he comes, and throws his mantle by,

And stood stark naked on the brook's green brim :

The sun look'd on the world with glorious eye,

Yet not so wistly as this queen on him.

He, spying her, bounc'd in, whereas he stood :
" O Jove," quoth she, " why was not I a flood ! "

lO

vn

Fair is my love, but not so fair as fickle,
Mild as a dove, but neither true nor trusty.
Brighter than glass and yet, as glass is, brittle,
Softer than wax and yet as iron rusty:

A lily pale, with damask dye to grace her,

5. Ul}i\ little Lintott.

VI. The subject is that of one of the
pictures offered to Christopher Sly,
Taming of the Shrew, Induction, ii.
50: "Dost thou love pictures? We
will show thee straight Adonis painted
by the running brook, And Cytherea
all in sedges hid."^

12. wistly\ eagerly, earnestly ; cf.
Holland's Pliny, il. xl. : "A wild
beast there is in Egypt, called Orix,
which the Egyptians say, doth Stand
full against the Dog starre when it
riseth, looking wistly upon it, and
testifieth after a sort by sneesing, a kind
of worship." See also Venus and
Adonis, 343, and Lucrece, 1355'

VII. 3. brittle'] Perhaps we should
read for the rime's sake brickie, which
is still in provincial use. See Eng.
Dialect Diet, sab voc. It occurs in
Spenser, Ruines of Time : " But th'
Altare, on the which this Image staid,
Was O great pitie ! built of brickie
clay " ; and Faerie Queene, IV. x. 39 :
"Yet glasse was not, if one did rightly
deeme ; But being faire and brickie,
likest glasse did seeme,"

5. damask dye] Cf. King John, III.
i. 53 : "Of Nature's gifts thou may'st
with lilies boast And with the half-
blown rose." "The Damaske Rose,"
says Parkinson (Paradisus, p. 413),
"is of a fine deepe blush colour, and
the great double Damaske Province or
Holland Rose of the same or rather
somewhat deeper." The New Eng.
Diet, cites Lyte, Dodoens, vi. i. 654 :
" The flowers ... be neither redde
nor white but of a mixt colour betwixt
red and white, almost carnation colour."
In Love's Labour 's Lost, v. ii. 295, the
damask rose seems to be identified with
the York and Lancaster, from which
Parkinson distinguishes it ; cf. As You
Like It, III. V. 123.

$,6.A... ,4«r] The words " None
fairer " are with this pointing left
suspended. The antithesis between
" grace " and "deface " seems to require
a change : "A lily pale with damask
dye : to grace her. None fairer, nor
none falser, to deface her," i.e. To her
honour it may be said that there is
none fairer, and to her discredit that

142 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

None fairer, nor none falser to deface her.
Her lips to mine how often hath she joined,
Between each kiss her oaths of true love swearing!
How many tales to please me hath she coined,
Dreading my love, the loss thereof still fearing ! lo

Yet in the midst of all her pure protestings.
Her faith, her oaths, her tears, and all were jestings.

She burn'd with love, as straw with fire flameth;
She burn'd out love, as soon as straw out-burneth;
She fram'd the love, and yet she foil'd the framing ; 1 5
She bade love last, and yet she fell a-turning.

Was this a lover, or a lecher whether ?

Bad in the best, though excellent in neither.

vni

If music and sweet poetry agree,

As they must needs, the sister and the brother,

Then must the love be great 'twixt thee and me,

Because thou lov'st the one and I the other.

Dowland to thee is dear, whose heavenly touch 5

Upon the lute doth ravish human sense;

Spenser to me, whose deep conceit is such

As passing all conceit needs no defence.

Thou lov'st to hear the sweet melodious sound

That Phcebus' lute, the queen of music, makes ; 10

And I in deep delight am chiefly drown'd

When as himself to singing he betakes.

One god is god of both, as poets feign ;

One knight loves both, and both in thee remain.

10. thereof'\ whereof ed. 1599. II. mzdsi'] ed. 1640; miiis ed. 1599.

IT,. flametKl flaviing Sewell ed. I. 14. oat-bumeth'] hyphened by Malone,

out burning Sewell. 16. a-tuming\ hyphened by Dyce.

there is none more false. Possibly, the ed. 1613), Lacrymce, or Semen Teares

phrase "none fairer" was displaced figured in seaven passionate Pavans

by the exigencies of the rime, or the (1605), andotherworks. Hewasatone

writer may have thought the chiasmus time of his life very popular. ' ' But in

desirable in itself. music we know how fashions end."

13, 14. She . . . out-burneth'jyLalone See. Z)ict. Nat. Biog.

compares 1 Henry IV. in. ii. 62 : 7. conceit] thought. In the next line

"rash bavin wits, Soon kindled and it is rather "imagination"; cf. IV. 9

soon burnt." ante.

VIII. 5. Dowland] John Dowland 14. One knight] Sir George Carey.

(1563?-! 626?), lute-player and com- 14. thee] Richard Linche, author of

poser, published First Booke of Songes Diella. See also Introduction.
or Ayres of Foure-Partes in 1597 (5th

THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM 143

IX
Fair was the morn when the fair queen of love,

Paler for sorrow than her milk-white dove,
For Adon's sake, a youngster proud and wild;
Her stand she takes upon a steep-up hill: 5

Anon Adonis comes with horn and hounds;
She, silly queen, with more than love's good will,
Forbade the boy he should not pass those grounds :
"Once," quoth she, "did I see a fair sweet youth
Here in these brakes deep-wounded with a boar, lo

Deep in the thigh, a spectacle of ruth!
See in my thigh," quoth she, "here was the sore."
She showed hers: he saw more wounds than one,
And blushing fled, and left her all alone.

X

Sweet rose, fair flower, untimely pluck'd, soon vaded,

Pluck'd in the bud and vaded in the spring!

Bright orient pearl, alack, too timely shaded !

Fair creature, kill'd too soon by death's sharp sting !

Like a green plum that hangs upon a tree, 5

And falls through wind before the fall should be.

I weep for thee and yet no cause I have;

For why thou left'st me nothing in thy will :

And yet thou left'st me more than I did crave;

For why I craved nothing of thee still : 10

O yes, dear friend, I pardon crave of thee.
Thy discontent thou didst bequeath to me.

2. Omission of line first marked by Malone, As a long-parted mother from
her child Bullock conj. 5. steep-up] hyphened by Sewell. 10. deep-

wounded] hyphened by Malone. i. vaded] faded, Gildon. 8. leffsC]

Malone, lefts ed. 1599.

IX. 3. Paler . . . ] The line pre- which it means, though the words are
ceding this is lost (Malone). of different origin. See Skeat, Z'zW. iai

5. J^««/-«/] Malone compares &iKK«&, voc. Spenser makes them rime in The

vii. 5: " And having climb'd the steep- Ruines of Ro7ne, xx. : "Her power,

up heavenly hill. " In Othello, v. ii. disperst through all the world did vade ;

280, we have "steep-down " ; " Wash To shew that all in th' end to nought

me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire." shall fade." "Vade" occurs four

8. pass] pass through, as often. times in The Passionate Pilgrim, but

X. I. vaded] Gildon read "faded," not in Shakespeare's genuine work.

144

SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

XI

Venus, with young Adonis sitting by her

Under a myrtle shade, began to woo him:

She told the youngling how god Mars did try her,

And as he fell to her, so fell she to him.

" Even thus," quoth she, " the warlike god embrac'd me," 5

And then she clipp'd Adonis in her arms;

" Even thus," quoth she, " the warlike god unlac'd me,"

As if the boy should use like loving charms;

" Even thus," quoth she, " he seized on my lips,"

And with her lips on his did act the seizure: 10

And as she fetched breath, away he skips.

And would not take her meaning nor her pleasure.

Ah, that I had my lady at this bay.

To kiss and clip me till I run away !

I. Venus, withyoung\ Venus with edd. 1599, 1612, 1640; Fair Venus with
Malone (Farmer conj.) ; Venus and yong Griffin. 4. so fell she] Griffin, she
fell edd. 1599, 1612, 1640. 5. warlike] wanton Griffin. 6. clipf'd] clasfd
Griffin. 1 1, And] But Dyce.

XI. 4.] Boswell writes : " I have
given this line from Fidessa ; the want
of metre shows it to be corrupt as it
appears in Jaggard : ' And as he fell
to her, she fell to him.' The emphasis
must be laid on ' to him,' as the corre-
sponding rhyme is ' woo him.' "

/^. And . . . him] She began to
treat Adonis as Mars had treated her.
To "fall to" is to begin or set about
doing anything ; and in modern pro-
vincial use means often to attack ; thus
"He fell to him like a day's work "
means violently assaulted him. See
Taming of the Shrew, I. i. 38 : " The
mathematics and the metaphysics, Fall
to them as you find your stomach serves
you"; Hamlet, V. ii. 216: "before
you fall to play." Prof. Case prefers
the less idiomatic sense : " And as Mars
fell (or leant) towards her, so she fell
towards Adonis."

6. clipp'd] clasped. See Venus and
Adonis, 600.

9-14. In Griffin's Fidessa the last
six lines are as follows {Elizabethan
Sonnets, ed. Lee, ii. 266): "But he,
a wayward boy, refused the offer.
And ran away, the beauteous Queen
neglecting. Showing both folly to abuse
her proffer. And all his sex of cowardice
detecting. O that I had my Mistress at

that bay ! To kiss and clip me till I
ran away."

12. take] understand. See IV. 10.

13. at this bay] At first sight it may
seem natural to explain this, as the New
Eng. Did., "at close quarters ... at
one's last extremity " ; cf. Spenser,
Faerie Queene, VI. i. 12, of a squire
bound to a tree: "what hard mishap
thee brought Into this bay of perill and
disgrace?" But this is to miss the
point : the poet does not wish that he
was hunting his lady, but that his lady
was hunting him. He would like,
mutata mutanda, to be in Adonis's
shoes, i.e. to be the hunted not the
hunter. And "to hold at a bay"
could be said of the stag as well as of
the hounds. See Cotgrave : "Aux
derniers abbois ... A metaphor from
hunting ; wherein a Stag is said, Rendre
les abbois when wearie of running he
turns upon the hounds, and holds them
at, or put them to, a bay." Cf. Venus
and Adonis, 877: "The hounds
are at a bay." A stag caught by a
hound may escape if the hound loses its
grip by opening its mouth. Adonis
was seized by Venus, 1. 10, but she
fetched breath and he skipped, 1. II.
The poet merely says that if he were
the stag, Adonis, and his lady the
hound, Venus, he would not run.

THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM 145

XII

Crabbed age and youth cannot live together:

Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care;

Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather;

Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare.

Youth is full of sport, age's breath is short ; 5

Youth is nimble, age is lame ;
Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold ;

Youth is wild, and age is tame.
Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I do adore thee;

O, my love, my love is young! lo

Age, I do defy thee: O, sweet shepherd, hie thee.

For methinks thou stay'st too long.

XIII

Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good;

A shining gloss that vadeth suddenly ;

A flower that dies when first it 'gins to bud;

A brittle glass that 's broken presently :

A doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower, 5

Lost, vaded, broken, dead within an hour.

And as goods lost are seld or never found,
As vaded gloss no rubbing will refresh.
As flowers dead lie wither'd on the ground,

12. stay'st} Ewing, siayst Sewell, staies ed. 1599. i. doubtful] fleeting
Anon. MS. (Gent. Mag. xx. 521). 2. vadeth] fadeth Gildon. 3. first . . .
bud] almost in the bud Anon. MS. (Gent. Mag.). 4. that's broken] that

breaketk Anon. MS. (Gent. Mag.). 6, 8. vaded] faded Gildon. 7. And

. . . found] As goods, when lost, are wonoCrous seldom found Anon. MS. (Gent.
Mag.). 8-10. will refresh . . . redress] can excite . . . unite Anon. MS.

(Gent. Mag.). 9. dead lie wither'd] when dead, are trampled Anon. MS.

(Gent. Mag.).

XII.] Printed by Malpne as 20 11. 7. seld] seldom. See Troilus and

4. brave] adorned, flourishing. The Cressida, IV. v. ijo: "If I might in

New Eng. Diet, cites H. Smith (1593), entreaties find success— As seld I have

fr»r/5j(i866-67): "The lilies which are a chance"; and Romeus and Juliet

braver than Solomon" ; and Heywood, (Hazlitt's Shaks. Lib. p. 105) : "Tvi^o

Apol. Actors, Author to Bk. : ' ' One sortes of men there are, seeld welcome

man is ragged and another brave." in at doore, The welfhy sparing niggard,

XIII.] The Cambridge Edd. cite and the sutor who is poore." So

from a second MS. copy of this poem " seld-shown," Coriolanus, n. i. 229;

(Gentleman!s Magazine, xxx. 39) the "selcouth," i.e. seldom known,

ieitdiDgs,afleeiing{oi and fleeting {I. i), Spenser, Faerie Queene, iv. viii. 14.
aaA fading fot faded (1. 8 of first copy).

10

146 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

As broken glass no cement can redress, lO

So beauty blemish'd once for ever's lost,
In spite of physic, painting, pain and cost.

XIV, XV

Good night, good rest. Ah, neither be my share :
She bade good night that kept my rest away ;
And daffd me to a cabin hang'd with care.
To descant on the doubts of my decay.

"Farewell," quoth she, "and come again to-
morrow : " 5
Fare well I could not, for I supp'd with
sorrow.

Yet at my parting sweetly did she 'smile,

In scorn or friendship, niU I conster whether;

'T may be, she joy'd to jest at my exile,

'T may be, again to make me wander thither: lo

"Wander," a word for shadows like myself.

As take the pain, but cannot pluck the pelf

Lord, how mine eyes throw gazes to the east !
My heart doth charge the watch; the morning rise

10. cemenf\ symant ed. 1599. 11. once for ever's] Gildon, once' s for ever
Edd. Globe ed., once, is ever Anon. MS. (Gent. Mag.). 8. conster^ed. 1599,
construe Ewing. 9, 10. 'T may be] ed. 1599, It may be Gildon, May be

Malone. 11. a word] so Malone, in parentheses in ed. 1599. 14. charge]
change Delius conj.

10. cement] So accented in Antony iv. i. 96: " dafPd the world aside And
and Cleopatra, iii. ii. 29. bid it pass.''

11. So . . . lost] Perhaps we should 4. descant . . . decay] comment on
read :" So beauty 's, blemish'd once, for apprehensions of loss of strength or
ever lost." hope; cf. Richard III. I. i. 27: "'I

XIV, XV. These are one poem, as . . . Have no delight to pass away the

Prof. Dowden has shown, noting the time Unless to spy my shadow in the

catchword Lord under pelf in the ori- sun And descant on mine own de-

ginal. Prof. Rolfe pointed out the formity." "Decay" was used of any

small capital of Lord (1. 13) as evi- change for the worse,

dence of the same thing. 8. nill] will not ; cf. Pericles, in.

I. be] are. Gower, 55: "I nill relate, action may

3. dafTd] "Daff" usually means do Conveniently the rest display."

or put off, but is here stronger, "packed 8. whether] which of the two. See

me off." Malone compares Much Ado, note on Venus and Adonis, 1. 304.

V. i. 78: "Away, I will not have to 14. charge the watch] Steevens says,

do with you. — Canst thou so daff "The meaning of this phrase is not

me?" See also ibid. 11. iii. 76: "I very clear"; and Malone, that "Per-

would have daff'd all other respects, and haps the poet, wishing for the approach

made her half myself" ; and 1 Henry IV. of morning, enjoins the watch to hasten

THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM 147

Doth cite each moving sense from idle rest.

Not daring trust the office of mine eyes,

While Philomela sits and sings, I sit and mark,
And wish her lays were tuned like the lark;

IS

For she doth welcome daylight with her ditty,
And drives away dark dreaming night;
The night so pack'd, I post unto my pretty;
Heart hath his hope and eyes their wished sight;
Sorrow chang'd to solace and solace mix'd with

sorrow ;
For why, she sigh'd^ and bade me come to-
morrow.

20

Were I with her, the night would post too soon; 25

15. res/.] rest, ed. 1599. 17- sits ami} omit. Edd. Cambridge ed. conj.

20. And drives] And daylight drives Anon. conj. ; dark dreaming] dark
dismal - dreaming Malone, dark dreary dreaming Anon. conj. 23. and

solace] solace Malone. 24. sigKd] Gildon, sight ed. 1599.

through their nocturnal duties,'' but
this is to bid them exceed their powers.
If the text is right, "the watch" may
be "mine eyes," which are bidden to
act as watchmen, e.g. to announce the
dawn; but other senses, e.g. hearing,
are roused by the glimmer of morning
twilight, and I listen for the lark to
confirm the evidence of my eyes when
daylight actually comes. Objections
to the text are that " the morning rise
. . . rest," seems either an unmeaning
parenthesis or a contradiction of 1. 19,
for morning rise and daylight can
hardly be distinguished, and also of
11. 29, 30. Besides, the rhythm is
jarred and interrupted by the full stop at
" rest." It might be better to restore the
pointing of ed. 1599, merely changing
the comma at "watch" to the end of
the line, an3 to read "them" for " the " :
m may have been in the MS. a mere
stroke above the e. "Them" is so
printed in the original of XIX. 40.
This would give continuity of sense
and rhythm, besides bringing the stanza
into line with the rest as regards its
form, for the others are, in the original,
quatrains ending in a full stop, and
followed by couplets :

"Lord, how mine eyes throw gazes

to the east !
My heart doth charge them watch

the morning rise,

Doth cite each moving sense from

idle rest.
Not daring trust the office of mine

eyes.
While Philomela sings, I sit and

mark,
And wish her lays were tuned

like the lark";
i.e. My heart, unable to trust my eyes,
rouses my other senses. "Moving"
may mean "living"; cf. Venus and
Adonis, 368 : " O fairest mover on
this mortal round," i.e. fairest who
lives on earth. Prof. Case cites R.
Chester, Love's Martyr (1601, ed.
Grosart, p. 154): "My eyes like
Watchmen gaze within the night,"
but suggests that "instead of tak-
ing 'the watch' as 'mine eyes,' we
might take 'charge the watch' as
= impose or enjoin the watch or
vigil."

17. sits . . . mark] The Cambridge
Edd. f>ropose to omit "sits and,"
which is better than to read "I
mark.''

21. pack'i\ gone, as in 1. 29 below,
and Richard III. i. i. 146: "Till
George be pack'd with post-horse up
to heaven."

22. wjiAerf] longed-for ; cf. "wished
light" in Comedy of Errors, i. i. 91.
In this sense it is common, especially
in Fletcher's plays.

148 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

But now are minutes added to the hours;
To spite me now, each minute seems a moon;
Yet not for me, shine sun to succour flowers !

Pack night, peep day; good day, of night now borrow;

Short, night, to-night, and length thyself, to-morrow. 30

27. a moon} Malone (Steevens conj.), «« houre ed. 1599.

27. mooB] month ; cf. Midsummer- in Romeus and Juliet {)iaz\it\^s Shaks.

Nigkfs Dream, I. i. 3; and Othello, Lib. p. 147): "Shall short our days

I. iii. 84. So Tennyson calls March \i.e. life] by shameful death."
" this roaring moon of daffodil And 30. thyself^ I have inserted the

crocus." comma, as to-morrow is addressed,

30. Shorti shorten; used in a some- the meaning being, "O Night, make

what different sense in Cymbeline, I. thyself short, O To-morrow, make

vi. 200: "I shall short my word By thyself long." "For why? She sighed,

lengthening my return"; but as here and bade me come to-morrow " (1. 24).

SONNETS

TO SUNDRY NOTES OF
MUSIC

XVI

It was a lording's daughter, the fairest one of three,

That liked of her master as well as well might be,

Till looking on an Englishman, the fair'st that eye could see.

Her fancy fell a-turning.
Long was the combat doubtful that love with love did fight,
To leave the master loveless, or kill the gallant knight : 6
To put in practice either, alas, it was a spite

Unto the silly damsel !
But one must be refused ; more mickle was the pain
That nothing could be used to turn them both to gain, lo
For of the two the trusty knight was wounded with disdain :

Alas, she could not help it!
Thus art with arms contending was victor of the day.
Which by a gift of learning did bear the maid away:
Then, lullaby, the learned man hath got the lady gay ; 1 5

For now my song is ended.

XVII

On a day, alack the day!

Love, whose month was ever May,

Spied a blossom passing fair,

2. her masler] a master S. Walker conj. 4. a-turning\ hyphened by Dyce.

XVI. I. /o?-(?j«/ J'] gentleman's. The to be given in derision and for a kind

word is usually used in the plural and of contempt, as when we say Lording

in addresses, e.g. 2 Henry VI. I. i. for Lord."

14s ; cf. Selimus, Temple ed. 1. 199 2. master'\ teacher, as in Taming of

(lording), 11. 753, 1832 (lordirgs). In the Shrew, ill. i. 54.

iii^ Arte of English Poesie (ed. Arber, XVII. See ZwA Labour's Lost, iv.

p. 229), it is given as an example of iii. 97-116, and Hart's notes in this

meiosis: "Also such terms are used series.

150 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Playing in the wanton air:

Through the velvet leaves the wind 5

All unseen 'gan passage find;

That the lover, sick to death,

Wish'd himself the heaven's breath,

" Air," quoth he, " thy cheeks may blow ;

Air, would I might triumph so ! 10

But, alas ! my hand hath sworn

Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn :

Vow, alack ! for youth unmeet :

Youth, so apt to pluck a sweet.

Thou for whom Jove would swear 15

Juno but an Ethiope were;

And deny himself for Jove,

Turning mortal for thy love."

XVIII

My flocks feed not.
My ewes breed not,
My rams speed not,

All is amiss:
Love's denying, 5

Faith's defying.
Heart's renying.

Causer of this.
All my merry jigs are quite forgot.

All my lady's love is lost, God wot: 10

Where her faith was firmly fix'd in love.
There a nay is plac'd without remove.

7. lover'\ Sheepheard England's Helicon. 12. th.orn\ Malone (England's
Helicon), throne ei. 1599. li,. Jove]ev'nJove Gildon. 5. Love's denying]
Love is denying England's Helicon, Love is dying ed. 1599. 6. Faith's']
Gildon, Faithes ed. 1599, Faith is England's Helicon. 7. Hearts renying]
Malone, Harts renying England's Helicon, Harts nenying ed. 1599, Harts
denying ed. 1612. 8. Causer] 'Cause Steevens conj. 9. my merry] our
OT«?-?7 Weelkes's Madrigals. 11. Aer] o«r Weelkes's Madrigals. 12. anay]
annoy Weelkes's Madrigals.

16. Ethiope] Negro. See Two Gentle- 5. denying] refusal.

men of Verona, 11. vi. 26 : " And 6. defying] rejection.

Silvia — witness Heaven that made her 7. renying] Cotgrave has : " Renier.

fair ! — Shoves Julia but a swarthy To denie stifly, disaffirme earnestly,

Ethiope." disadvow ; abjure, forsweare vehe-

XVIII. In the older editions, the mently."

first eight lines and the last six in each 12. nay] probably " refusal," as

stanza are printed as four. "why" for reason, As You Like It,

5. Love's denying] I think the original 11. vii. 52, and for question, Richard II.

" Love is dying" is right : later, 1. 48, II. iii. 92. It would perhaps be forcing

" love is dead." the meaning to explain it as "false-

PASSIONATE PILGRIM— SONNETS 151

One silly cross
Wrought all my loss;

O frowning Fortune, cursed, fickle dame! IS

For now I see
Inconstancy

More in women than in men remain.

In black mourn I,

All fears scorn I, 20

Love hath forlorn me.

Living in thrall :
Heart is bleeding,
All help needing,
O cruel speeding, 25

Fraughted with gall.
My shepherd's pipe can sound no deal :
My wether's bell rings doleful knell;
My curtal dog, that wont to have play'd,
Plays not at all, but seems afraid; 30

My sighs so deep
Procure to weep.

In howling wise, to see my doleful plight.
How sighs resound
Through heartless ground, 35

Like a thousand vanquish'd men in bloody fight!

Clear wells spring not.
Sweet birds sing not.
Green plants bring not

Forth their dye ; 40

Herds stand weeping,

13. One] Our Weelkes's Madrigals. 18. men remain] many men to be

Weelkes's Madrigals. 20. fears] fear Weelkes's Madrigals. 21. Lcnie . . .
me] Love forlorn I Steevens conj. 26. Fraughted] Fraught Weelkes's

Madrigals. 27. can] will Weelkes's Madrigals. 28. mether's] weather's

Gildon, weathers ed. 1599, wethers' Malone. 31, 32. My sighs . . . Procure
to] Malone, With sighes . . . procures to ed. ^599- 33- -^^ howling wise]

With howling noise Weelkes's Madrigals. 35. heartless] harkless Weelkes's

Madrigals, and Malone. 39, 40. Green . . . dye] Loud bells ring not

cheerfully Weelkes's Madrigals. 40. Forth their dye] forth their die edd.

1599. 1612, 1640; Forth: they die Malone 1780.

hood" in contrast to the "faith . . . "She is conditioned, I tell thee

fixed " of the previous line ; but the playne,

word practically means " a lie " in The Mooste like a Fiend, this is no nay."

Dethe of Blaunche the Duchesse, 1. 147 : 26. Fraughted] freighted, laden ; cf.

"And shewe her shortly^ — hit is no fraughting, Tempest, i. ii. 13.

nay ! — How hit was dreynt this other 29. curtal] docked.

day " ; and elsewhere in Chaucer. Cf. 32. Procure] cause ; cf. Merry Wives,

The Wife lapped in MorrelFs Skin, IV. vi. 48: "you'll procure the vicar

1. 82 : To stay for me at church."

152 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

Flocks all sleeping,
Nymphs back peeping

Fearfully :
All our pleasure known to us poor swains, 45

All our merry meetings on the plains,
All our evening sport from us is fled.
All our love is lost, for Love is dead.
Farewell, sweet lass,
Thy like ne'er was 50

For a sweet content, the cause of all my moan :
Poor Corydon
Must live alone;

Other help for him I see that there is none.

XIX

When as thine eye hath chose the dame.
And stall'd the deer that thou shouldst strike,
Let reason rule things worthy blame,
As well as fancy, partial wight:

Take counsel of some wiser head, 5

Neither too young nor yet unwed.

43. back peeping] backe peeping England's Helicon; blacke peeping ed. 1599;
back creeping Weelkes's Madrigals, Malone. 45. pleasure} pleasures Weelkes's
Madrigals. 46. meetings'] meeting England's Helicon. 47. sport . . . is]
sports . . . are England's Helicon, Weelkes's Madrigals. 49. lass] Weelkes's
Madrigals, Malone ; love ed. 1599, England's Helicon. 51. a] omit. England's
Helicon; the] thou Malone conj., though Hudson (Dyce conj.) ; ZBoaw] Malone,
moane England's Helicon, woe ed. 1599. 54. see that there is] know there's
Weelkes's Madrigals. I. When as] When y' MS. 2. stalVd] Evans
(Capell MS.), stalde ed. 1599; that] omit. Sewell ; shouldst] wouldst
Malone, MS. 4. fancy, partial wight] Cambridge Edd. (Capell MS. and Malone
conj. withdrawn) ; faruy (party all might) ed. 1599 ; fancy (partly all might) ed.
idifi; fancy, partial might Malone (1780); fancy, partial tike Malone (1790,
Steevens conj.) ; fancy partial like MS. cited by Malone ; fancy's partial might
Furnivall conj. 6. unwed] unwayde MS.

XIX. 1 , 2. When . . . strike] Cf. where it is used of a sts^ standing and

Ovid, A. A. i. 45-50: " Scit bene ven- looking about before going to its lair,

ator, cervis ubi retia tendat, Scit bene, Stratmann (M.E. Diet.) has "Stallen

qua frendens valle moretur aper: place in a stall, locate." Prof.

"Tu quoque, materiam longo qui qujeris Case notes that to read stalk'd would

amori. Ante frequens quo sit disce agree with "strike," but does not pro-

puella loco." pose the emendation.

2. stall'd] The context and the par- 4. fancy . . . wight] Furnivall's

allel in Ovid suggest that this is a conjecture, "fancy's partial might,"

hunting term. It may mean lodged or does not account for the parenthesis in

harboured. The glossary to The Master Q, but is in other respects excellent.

of Game, ed. 1909, explains "stall" as "Wight" seems to me only a little

"to corner, to bring to bay, to stand better than "tike," for which Malone

still," but refers only to a passage discarded it.

PASSIONATE PILGRIM- SONNETS 153

And when thou com'st thy tale to tell,

Smooth not thy tongue with filed talk,

Lest she some subtle practice smell, —

A cripple soon can find a halt; — lO

But plainly say thou lov'st her well,

And set thy person forth to sell.

What though her frowning brows be bent,

Her cloudy looks will calm ere night:

And then too late she will repent IS

That thus dissembled her delight ;

And twice desire, ere it be day.

That which with scorn she put away.

What though she strive to try her strength,

And ban and brawl, and say thee nay, 20

Her feeble force will yield at length.

When craft hath taught her thus to say ;

"Had women been so strong as men.

In faith, you had not had it then."

8. Smootfi] Whett MS. lo. a Aali] oiie hault MS. 12. thy . . . self]

Malone (1790) (from a MS.); her . . . sale ed. 1599; her . . . sell Steevens
conj. 13-24. What . . . then] follows 1. 36 Malone (from a MS.). 14.

calm ere] clear ere Malone (1790) (from a MS.). 15. then . . . will] she

perhaffes will soon MS. 16. thus] she MS. 18. which with] with such
Malone (1790) and MS. 20. ban] chide MS. ; thee] ed. 1612, the ed. 1599.
22. When] AndyiS. 24. not had] not got MS.

%. filed talk] polished phrases; cf. but "her person" gives a sense more

Arden of Fevershavi, v. vi. 15: "this in keeping with the context: "say you

naked tragedy Wherein no filed points love her and praise her beauty," seems

are foisted in To make it gracious to the better advice than, " say you love her and

ear or eye." boast or show off." "To set forth to

\o. A . . . halt] There are various sell" is "to set off to advantage, as a

forms of this proverb. See Farmer's salesman by praising his goods " ; cf.

Heywood, p. 71: "It is hard halting Sonnets, xxi. 14: "I will not praise

before a cripple, ye wot " ; and Chaucer, that purpose not to sell " ; and Troilus

Troilus and Criseyde, IV. ccix. i ; "It and Cressida, iv. i. 78 : " We'll but

is full hard to halten unespyed Bifore commend what we intend to sell."

a crepul, for he can the craft," i.e. Contrast Proverbs, xx. 14: "It

knows the business. is naught, it is naught, sayth the

12. set . . . sell] Q reads "set her buyer."
person forth to sale." Steevens proposed 13. What though . . .] This stanza

" sell," a conjecture confirmed by a and the following one occupy a single

copy of the poem seen by Malone, page in Q, and the next two stanzas

which also read "thy" for "her." If occupy the next page. These two

the text is right, the meaning will be pages seem to have changed places,

"make the most of yourself"; cf. and U. 25-36 should follow 1. 12.

Ovid, A. A. 595, 596: "Si vox est. This is' Malone's arrangement, and that

canta: si mollia brachia, salta : Et of his old MS.
quacumque potes dote placere place " ;

154 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

And to her will frame all thy ways; 25

Spare not to spend, and chiefly there
Where thy desert may merit praise,
By ringing in thy lady's ear:

The strongest castle, tower and town.

The golden bullet beats it down. 30

Serve always with assured trust,
And in thy suit be humble true;
Unless thy lady prove unjust.
Press never thou to choose a new :

When time shall serve, be thou not slack 35

To proffer, though she put thee back.

The wiles and guiles that women work,

Dissembled with an outward show,

The tricks and toys that in them lurk.

The cock that treads them shall not know. 40

Have you not heard it said full oft,

A woman's nay doth stand for nought?

Think women still to strive with men,

To sin and never for to saint:

There is no heaven, by holy then, 45

When time with age shall them attaint.

Were kisses all the joys in bed.

One woman would another wed.

27. deserf] expences MS. ; merit] sound thy MS. 28. in . . . ear] always
in ker ear Malone (1790) and MS. 29. and] or MS. 30. beats it]

hathe beat MS. 34. Press] Prease ed. 1599, Please Sewell, Seek Malone

(1790); a new] ed. 1599, anew Lintott. 35. shall] doth MS. ; be thou] then
be MS. 36. thee] it ed. i6i2 and MS. 37-42. Placed after 1. 48 in MS.
37. women work] in them lurkes MS. 39. that . . . lurk] and meanes to

woorke MS. 41. it] that MS. 45. by holy] be holy Collier, by th' holy !
or by holy ! Doggett conj.

26-30. Spare . . . down] Ovid, A. A. Richard III. III. vii. 51 : "Play the

3SS, more thrifty, advises to bribe the maid's part, still answer nay and take

lady's maid with promises and entreaties, it"; Herrick (ed. Grosart, ii. 247):

33. unjust] unfaithful, perhaps a " Maids' nays are nothing : they are shy

mark of Shakespeare's hand. See Sonnet But to desire what they deny"; cf.

cxxxviii. 1. 10, where "unjust" is ibid. -p. 222.

opposed to "made of truth," 1. i. 43-46. Think. , .attaint] Malone,

42. A . . . nought] A common following the old MS. copy, reads :

slander or experience of the time. See "Think, women love to match with

Cotgrave : "Guedon. Faire de guedon men, And not to live so like a saint:

guedon, To mince, or Simper it ; to be Here is no heaven ; they holy then

nice, quaint, scrupulous of receiving Begin, when age doth them attaint."

what inwardly is longed for ; to say nay This seems impossibly bad, but the

and take it, as men say maids doe " ; text is inexplicable.

PASSIONATE PILGRIM— SONNETS 155

But, soft! enough — too much, I fear —

Lest that my mistress hear my song: 5°

She will not stick to round me on th'ear,

To teach my tongue to be so long:

Yet will she blush, here be it said,

To hear her secrets so bewray'd.

XX

Live with me, and be my love.
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dales and fields,
And all the craggy mountains yields.

There will we sit upon the rocks, 5

And see the shepherds feed their flocks.
By shallow rivers, by whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

49. But, soft!] Now hoe MS. 5a I.est that] For if Malone (1790),

from his MS. 51. round . . . ear] Gildon, round me on tK are ed. 1599,
round me on tK ere ed. 1612, round me f th' ear Malone (1780), ring mine ear
Malone (1790), wring mine ear Boswell conj., ringe my eare MS. 53- "wH^
would MS. 54. so] thus MS. i. Live] Come live England's Helicon,

and Walton. 2. pleasures] pleasure Gildon. 3, 4. dales and fields . . .
mountains yields] dales and fields . . . mountaines yeelds ed. 1640, dales and
fields . . . mountaines yeeld eA. 1599, hills and fields . . . mountaines yeelds ^ng-
b.nd's Helicon, dale and f eld . . . mountains yield Gildon, dales and ^elds . . .
mountain yields Collier. 6. And see] Seeing England's Helicon. 1, by] to
England's Helicon, and Merry Wives of Windsor, and Collier.

51. round , . . ear] If "round" in his old MS. How he understood it

could mean "strike roundly," i.e. cannot be known, perhaps as " cause to

vigorously, the sense would be ring." Boswell proposes " wring,"

appropriate to the times of Great supporting it by the irrelevant " Cynthius

Elizabeth, but the usual meaning is aurem vellit." There is a real parallel

"whisper" (A.S. runian, to whisper in Taming of the Shrew, I. ii. 16:

or mutter). Cf. Promptorium Parvu- "An you'll not knock, I'll ring it,"

lorum : " Rownyn to-gedyr : Susurro" ; where the stage direction (F l) is : " He

King John, 11. i. 566 : " rounded in the rings him by the eares."

ear With that same purpose-changer, XX. This is the song sung by Evans,

that sly devil " ; Winter's Tale, I. ii. when as a duellist he is " full of chollors

217: " whispering, rounding 'Siciliais and Uem^Mngoi mind," Merry Wives,

a so-forth.'" Other instances may be III. i. 15-26; and commended by

seen in Dyce's Skelton, vol. ii. p. 120, Walton as old-fashioned poetry but

and in Nares' Glossary, The objec- choicely good. See Dyce, Marlowe, p.

tions are : (i) whisper seems too weak 381, for the text of this poem as given

for the context; (z) "round" in this in England's Helicon, viithvaxiows xs2id-

sense is constructed with "in," not ings from The Passionate Pilgrim, &nd

"on." Malone prints "ring my ear," '^aXion's Compleat Angler.

without comment, though he may have 8. madrigals] love-songs,
found the reading, as Staunton asserts.

156 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

There will I make thee a bed of roses,

With a thousand fragrant posies, lo

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle

Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle.

A belt of straw and ivy buds,

With coral clasps and amber studs;

And if these pleasures may thee move, 15

Then live with me and be my love.

Love's Answer

If that the world and love were young,

And truth in every shepherd's tongue.

These pretty pleasures might me move

To live with thee and be thy love. go

XXI

As it fell upon a day

In the merry month of May,

Sitting in a pleasant shade

WhicTi a grove of myrtles made,

Beasts did leap and birds did sing, 5

Trees did grow and plants did spring;

Every thing did banish moan.

Save the nightingale alone:

She, poor bird, as all forlorn,

Lean'd her breast up-till a thorn, 10

And there sung the dolefull'st ditty,

That to hear it was great pity:

" Fie, fie, fie," now would she cry ;

" Tereu, Tereu ! " by and by ;

9. a bed] beds England's Helicon, and Gildon. II. kirilel, girdle Gildon.

10. up-iilt] against England's Helicon. 14. Tereu, Tereu] Sewell (ed. 2),

Teru, Teru ed. 1599.

XXI. 10. up-till] a northern form, Pandion, king of Athens, and had a

up against. See Lodge, Scillaes Meta- son, Itys. Tereus violated his wife's

«o>^;4tfm(l589, Hunterian Club, p. 9) : sister, Philomela, cut out her tongue,

' ' A Nightingale gan sing : but woe the and imprisoned her. Progne released

lucke ; The branch so neere her breast, Philomela and killed and cooked Itys as

while she did quicke her To turne her a cannibal feast for his father. She

head, on sodaine gan to pricke her." was changed into a swallow, Philomela

14. Tereu] For the form of the story to a nightingale, Tereus to a hoopoe

accepted by Elizabethan writers see ("lapwing," Golding's Ovid). For a

Ovid, Met. vi. 424-676 — Tereus, king different account, see Apollodorus, Bit.

of Thrace, married Progne, daughter of in. xiv. 8.

PASSIONATE PILGRIM— SONNETS 157

That to hear her so complain, 1 5

Scarce I could from tears refrain ;

For her griefs so lively shown

Made me think upon mine own.

Ah, thought I, thou mourn'st in vain!

None takes pity on thy pain: 20

Senseless trees they cannot hear thee;

Ruthless beasts they will not cheer thee:

King Pandion he is dead ;

All thy friends are lapp'd in lead ;

All thy fellow birds do sing, 25

Careless of thy sorrowing.

Even so, poor bird, like thee,

None alive will pity me.

Whilst as fickle Fortune smiled,

Thou and I were both beguiled. 30

Every one that flatters thee
Is no friend in misery.
Words are easy, like the wind;
Faithful friends are hard to find:

Every man will be thy friend 35

Whilst thou hast wherewith to spend ;
But if store of crowns be scant.
No man will supply thy want.
If that one be prodigal.

Bountiful they will him call, 40

And with such-like flattering,
" Pity but he were a king ; "
If he be addict to vice,
Quickly him they will entice;

If to women he be bent, 45

They have at commandement :

17. lively] lovely ed. 1640. 22. beasts'] England's Helicon ; Beares edd.

1599, 1612, 1640, and Barnfield. 27, 28. Even . . . me] England's

Helicon; omit. edd. 1599, 1612, 1640, and Barnfield. 29-58. Wkil'st . . . foe]
omit. England's Helicon. 42, "Pity. . . /j/k^"] Quotation marks by Malone ;
were] was Sewell. 43-46. If . . . commandement] omit. Pepys MS. 46.
have at] have him at Sewell; commandement] commaundement ed. 1599, com-
mandment Cambridge, etc.

23. King . . . dead] Cf. Golding's the needy friend was soon forsaken, And
Ovid, vi. 854: "The sorrow of this he that had the crownes was half a.
great mischance did stop; Pandion's king."

breath Before his time and long ere age 43. addict] now corrupted to " ad-

determinde had his death." dieted."

24. lapped] wrapped ; cf. the title 46. They have] sc. women. Sewell's
"The Wife lapped in Morrel's Skin," reading, " They have him at command-
i.e. wrapped in the skin of a horse, ment," is rhythmical enough, for " com-
Hazlitt's Early Pop, Poetry, vol. iv. mandemente " is a word of four syllables

37-42. But . . . king] Cf. N. (se& Merchant of Venice, IV. i. ^t,i),h\>.t
Breton (ed. Grosart, i. 16a) : "I found is hardly in keeping with the four lines

158 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

But if Fortune once do frown,

Then farewell his great renown ;

They that fawn'd on him before

Use his company no more. 50

He that is thy friend indeed,

He will help thee in thy need :

If thou sorrow, he will weep;

If thou wake, he cannot sleep;

Thus of every grief in heart 55

He with thee doth bear a part.

These are certain signs to know

Faithful friend from flattering foe.

56. dotk] ed. 1640, doeth ed. 1599, does Collier.

following, and the objection stands if to plural being not uncommon, but the

"they" is explained as "women," in return to the singular in 1. 48 is against

which case it would be better to take this. If a change is needed, I would

"have" as a misprint for "are"; cf. suggest: "They have them at com-

Blind Beggar of Betknal Green : " And mandement," much as in Z Henry IV.

at their commandement still would she III. fi. 27, but with the additional

be." "They" might possibly be implication that they are prepared to

"prodigals," the change from singular introduce him.

THE PHCENIX AND TURTLE

THE PHCENIX AND TURTLE

Let the bird of loudest lay,

On the sole Arabian tree,

Herald sad and trumpet be,

To whose sound chaste wings obey.

But thou shrieking harbinger, 5

Foul precurrer of the fiend,

Augur of the fever's end,

To this troop come thou not near !

From this session interdict

Every fowl of tyrant wing, lO

Save the eagle, feather'd king:

Keep the obsequy so strict.

Let the priest in surplice white,

That defunctive music can,

'Be the death-divining swan, 15

Lest the requiem lack his right.

1. loudestl lowest ed. 1640. 2. On the sole} Sole on the Anon. conj. apud
Maione.

2. On ... tree} On the ground not found elsewhere. For the sake of
that there are many Arabian trees, the rhythm I would read " precursor,"
Maione, who had no ear, only fingers, which occurs in the plural in Tempest,
would have accepted the conjecture I. ii. 201; cf. "precurse" in Hamlet,
of a learned friend, "Sole on the i. i. 121 : " And even the like precurse
Arabian tree," had he not remembered of fierce events, As harbingers preceding
The Tempest, ill. iii. 23 : " that in still the fates And prologue to the
Arabia There is one tree, the phoenix' omen coming on," etc. However, the
throne; one phoenix At this hour simple form "currer" or "currour"
reigning there." occurs in the sense courier or mes-

3. trumpet} trumpeter to summ.on senger.

all good birds ; cf. Troilus and Cressida, 7. Augur . . . end] Maione com-

IV. V. 6 : "Thou, trumpet, there's my ^aies Midsummer-Nighf s Dream, v. i.

purse. Now crack thy lungs." 383-385: "Whilst the screech-owl,

5. shrieking harbinger} the screech- screeching loud. Puts the wretch that
owl, which, according to Holland's lies in woe In remembrance of a
Pliny, X. xii. p. 276, " betokeneth shroud."

alwaies some heavie newes, and is most 14. That , . . can} Who is skilful

execrable and accursed." in singing the funeral service.

6. precurrer} forerunner, a word

II

162

SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

And thou treble-dated crow,

That thy sable gender makest

With the breath thou givest and takest,

'Mongst our mourners shalt thou go.

Here the anthem doth commence :
Lovg_and_constancy is dead;
PKcenixaird the turtle fled
In a mutual flame from hence.

20

So they lov'd, as love in twain
Had the essence but in one ;
Two distincts, division none:
Number there in love was slain.

25

Hearts remote, yet not asunder;

Distance, and no space was seen 30

'Twixt the turtle and his queen :

But in them it were a wonder.

17. ireble-dateil\ hyphened by Sewell. 1 8, 19. makest . . . givest . . .

takest'] maKst . . . gitfst . . . tak'st edd. 1601 and 1640. 27. division none]

but in none ed. 1640. 31. the] Cambridge Edd., thy ed. 1640, this Grosart.
treble - dated] See Holland's

17-
Pliny, vn. xlviii. p. 180 : " Hesiodus,
the first writer (as I take it) who hath
treated of this argument, and yet Hke
a poet, in his fabulous discourse as
touching the £^e of man, saith forsooth,
That a crow liveth 9 times as long
as we ; and the harts or stags 4 times
as long as the crow ; but the ravens
thrice as long as they." Possibly
"crow" is for raven, and "treble-
dated " means living as long as three
st^s.

18. sable gender] Perhaps "black
offspring." Gender is class, kind, or
sex. In Hamlet, iv. vii, 18, the
general gender = the masses, and in
Othello, 1. iii. 326, one gender of herbs
means one kind. Steevens writes : "I
suppose this uncouth expression means
that the crow or raven continues its
race by the breath it gives to them as
its parent, and by that which it takes
from other animals, i.e. by first pro-
ducing its young from itself and then
providing for their support by depreda-
tion." If "crow" stands here for
"raven," a more natural explanation
is that Shakespeare is referring to the
belief that ravens had a peculiar way
of reproducing their species. Prof.
Case cites Seager, Natural History in

Shakespeare's 7zot«( 1896), which among
other citations .under Raven has this
from Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. § 34 :
" They are said to conceive and to lay
their eggs at the bill. The young
become __black on the seventh day."
This seenis conclusive, but Grosart's
note (Chester's Lovers Martyr, p. 242)
is of inte'rest : " It is a ' Vulgar Error '
still, that the ' Crow ' can change its
' gender ' at will. My friend Mr. E.
W. Gosse puts it : ' thou Crow that
makest [change in] thy sable gender,
with the mere exhalation and inhala-
tion of thy breath' (letter to me), 1. 3,
' With the breath,' etc. — query, Is there
a sub-reference to the (mythical) belief
that the crow re-clothes its aged parents
with feathers and feeds them? As
being ' sable ' it is well fitted to be a
' mourner.' " There seems to be some-
thing in "a black sex" and in the
equating of "sex" and "parents" that
eludes analysis.

32, But . . . wonder] But = except,
and were = would be. " So extra-
ordinary a phenomenon as hearts remote,
yet not asunder, etc., would have
excited admiration, had it been found
anywhere else except in these two
birds. In them it was not wonderful"
(Malone).

THE PHOENIX AND TURTLE 163

35

40

So between them love did shine,
That the turtle saw his right
Flaming in the phcenix' sight;
Either was the other's mine.

Property was thus appalled,
That the self was not the same ;
Single nature's double name
Neither two nor one was called.

Reason, in itself confounded,
Saw division grow together.
To themselves yet either neither.
Simple were so well compounded;

That it cried, How true a twain 45

Seemeth this concordant one!

34. righf] light Steevens conj. 39. natures] Malone, Natures Chester and
ed. 1640, natures, Sewell. 43. either neither] hyphened by Malone.

34. righ(\ Steevens, not Malone, as
Cambridge Edd. say, conjectured
"light : i.e. the turtle saw all the day
he wanted in the eyes of the Phoenix."
Malone writes: "I do not perceive
any need of change. The turtle saw
those qualities which were his right,
which were peculiarly appropriated to
him, in the Phoenix. — Light certainly
corresponds better with the word
flaming in the next line ; but Shake-
speare seldom puts his comparisons on
four feet." Grosart says: "It is
merely a variant mode of expressing
seeing love-babies (or one's self imaged)
in the other's eyes. This gives the
truer sense to the 'mine' of 1. 4." I
do not see how the turtle himself or
himself imaged could well be said to
flame ; and would prefer to explain
"his right" as "what is due to him,"
viz. love in return, and this he sees
shining in her eyes.

37, 38. Property . . . same] "This
communication of appropriated
qualities," says Malone, "alarmed the
power that presides over property.
Finding that the self was not the same,
he began to fear that nothing would
remain distinct and individual ; that all
things might become common."

39, 40. Single . . . called] They
could not be called one because their
persons were distinct, the self (nature),
was not the same (person), 1. 38, or two,

because their nature or essence was
the same ; division, i.e. distinct or
sundered persons, grew one in nature,
1. 42.

43, 44. To . . . compounded] So, in
T)i3.yton's Mortimeriados (1596) : "fire
seem'd to be water, water flame. Either
or neither, and yet both the same"
(Malone). I doubt if this is relevant.
Can the construction be "Yet neither
saw either grow to themselves," i.e. to
himself or herself, because they grew
for and to each other ? Reason saw a
growth, but it was a very different one
from that of Adonis, for example, who
grew to himself ( Venus and Adonis,
1. 1 180). This requires the lines, "To
. . . compounded " to be regarded as a
parenthesis. The change of subject is
avoided by a suggestion of Prof. Case :
' ' Reason . . . saw division grow
together, yet saw neither grow to or
become absorbed in the other, so well
were simple compounded ; So that it
cried," etc. Prof. Case adds : "As to
this, I do not stand upon it, but I am
not sure that the obvious objection,
viz. the presence of the affirmative
' either,' is conclusive against it."

45, 46. That . . . one] So, in
Drayton's Mortimeriados :

" Still in her breast his secret

thoughts she beares,
Nor can her tongue pronounce an

/, but wee ;

ss

164 SHAKESPEARE'S POEMS

\Love hath reason, reason none,
Uf what parts can so remain.
\^

Whereupon it made this threne

To the phcenix and the dove, ^o

Co-supremes and stars of love,

As chorus to their tragic scene.

THRENOS

Beauty, truth, and rarity,
Grace in all simplicity,
Here enclos'd in cinders lie.

Death is now the phoenix' nest ;
And the turtle's loyal breast
To eternity doth rest,

Leaving no posterity:

'Twas not their infirmity, 60

It was married chastity.

Truth may seem, but cannot be;
Beauty brag, but 'tis not she;
Truth and beauty buried be.

To this urn let those repair 65

That are either true or fair ;

For these dead birds sigh a prayer.

Threnos] Threnes ed. 1640. S5- Here] Hence ed. 1640.

Thus two in one and one in two can yet remain together and un-

they bee ; divided."

And as his soule possesseth head 49. threne] funeral song, Malone,

and heart, who cites Kendal's /"oewi (1577) : "Of

She's all in all, and all in every verses, threnes, and epitaphs. Full

part " (Malone). fraught with tears of teene," and on

47, 48. Love , . . remain] Love is Farmer's authority, the title of a book

right and reason wrong, or, as Malone by J. Heywood, David's Threanes

explains: "Love is reasonable, and (1620), reprinted two years later as

reason is folly (has no reason), if two David's Tears, probably a sign that

that are disunited from each other " threnes " was obsolete.

Printed hy Morrison & Gibb Limited, Edinintrgk