So beauty blemish'd once, for ever's lost,

In spite of physick, painting, pain, and cost.

Good night, good rest.

XI.

Ah! neither be my share: She bade good night, that kept my rest away; And daff'd me to a cabin hang'd with care, To descant on the doubts of my decay.

4

Farewell, quoth she, and come again to-morrow; Fare well I could not, for I supp'd with sorrow.

Yet at my parting sweetly did she smile,
In scorn or friendship, nill I construe whether:
'Tmay be, she joy'd to jest at my exíle,
"Tmay be, again to make me wander thither;
Wander, a word for shadows like thyself,
As take the pain, but cannot pluck the pelf.

XII.

Lord, how mine eyes throw gazes to the east!
My heart doth charge the watch; the morning rise
Doth cite each moving sense from idle rest.

Not daring trust the office of mine eyes,

4 And DAFF'D me, &c.] So, in Much Ado About Nothing: - canst thou so daff me?"

66

To daff, or doff, is to put off. MALONE.

5 'TMAY be, &c.] Thus the old copy. So also in the next line. I have observed the same elision in other poems of the same age, and once in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 1609, though I cannot at present turn to the instance that I had marked.

MALONE.

I will never believe any poet could begin two lines together, with such offensive elisions. They may both be omitted without injury to sense or metre. STEEVENS.

6 My heart doth CHARGE THE WATCH;] The meaning of this phrase is not very clear. STEEVENS.

Perhaps the poet, wishing for the approach of morning, enjoins the watch to hasten through their nocturnal duty.

MALONE.

While Philomela sits and sings, I sit and mark,
And wish her lays were tuned like the lark" ;

For she doth welcome day-light with her ditty 8,
And drives away dark dismal-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, solace mix'd with

sorrow;

For why? she sigh'd, and bade me come to

morrow.

Were I with her, the night would post too soon;
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!

7 While Philomela sits and sings, I sit and mark,

And wish her lays were tuned like the lark ;] In Romeo and Juliet, the lark and nightingale are in like manner opposed to each other. MALONE.

8 For she doth welcome day-light with her ditty,] So, in Romeo and Juliet:

"It was the lark, the herald of the morn."

MALONE.

9 — each minute seems A MOON;] The old copy reads-each minute seems an hour. The want of rhyme to the corresponding line shows that it must be corrupt. I have therefore not hesitated to adopt an emendation proposed by Mr. Steevens-each minute seems a moon; i. e. month. So, in Antony and Cleopatra "Which had superfluous kings for messengers,

"Not many moons gone by."

Again, in Othello :

66

Since these arms had seven years' pith

"Till now some nine moons wasted-."

In Romeo and Juliet our poet describes the impatience of a lover not less strongly than in the passage before us :

"I must hear from thee every day of the hour,

"For in a minute there are many days." MALone. "Were I with her, the night would post too soon; "But now are minutes added to the hours;

"To spite me now, each minute seems a moon;" Thus, in Dr. Young's Revenge :

"While in the lustre of her charms I lay,

"Whole summer suns roll'd unperceiv'd away ;·

Pack night, peep day, good day, of night now borrow:

Short, night, to-night, and length thyself to

morrow.

XIII.

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 fairest 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:

To put in practice either, alas it was a spite
Unto the silly damsel.

"Now fate does rigidly her dues regain,

"And every moment is an age of pain."

Dr. Young, however, was no needy borrower, and therefore the coincidence between these passages may be regarded as the effect of accident. There are, however, certain hyperbolical expressions which the inamoratoes of all ages have claimed as right of commonage. STEEVENS.

It was a lording's daughter, &c.] This and the five following Sonnets are said in the old copy to have been set to musick. Mr. Oldys in one of his MSS. says they were set by John and Thomas Morley. MALONE.

There is a wretched ditty, beginning:

"It was a lady's daughter
"Of Paris, properly," &c.

Another;

"It was an old man and his poor
"In great distress did fall-

wife

and twenty more It was's, that might as reputably be imputed to Shakspeare, who excels in ballads, as this despicable composition. STEEVENS.

I am afraid our author is himself answerable for one of these See As You Like It, vol. vi. p. 495:

It was's.

"It was a lover and his lass," &c. MALONE.

But one must be refused, more mickle was the pain, That nothing could be used, to turn them both to

gain,

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; For now my song is ended.

XIV.

On a day (alack the day2!)

Love, whose month was ever May3,

Spy'd a blossom passing fair,

Playing in the wanton air:

Through the velvet leaves the wind,
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!
But alas! my hand hath sworn 5
Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn:
Vow, alack, for youth unmeet;
Youth, so apt to pluck a sweet.

2 On a day (alack the day!) &c.] This Sonnet is likewise found in a collection of verses entitled England's Helicon, printed in 1600. It is there called The Passionate Sheepheard's Song, and our author's name is affixed to it. It occurs also in Love's Labour's Lost, Act IV. Sc. III. MALONE.

3

whose month was ever May,] In Love's Labour's Lost,"is ever May." MALONE.

4 That the LOVER,] England's Helicon reads:

5

"That the shepherd," &c. MALone.

my hand HATH sworn-] In Love's Labour's Lost, this line is printed with a slight variation:

But alas my hand is sworn." Malone.

Do not call it sin in me

That I am forsworn for thee;

Thou for whom Jove would swear
Juno but an Ethiope were;

And deny himself for Jove,
Turning mortal for thy love R.

XV.

My flocks feed not 9,

My ewes breed not,

My rams speed not,
All is amiss:

Love's denying',
Faith's defying,

Heart's renying,

Causer of this 2.

All my merry jigs are quite forgot",
All my lady's love is lost, God wot:

6 Do not call it, &c.] These two lines are supplied from the play. They are wanting in England's Helicon, and in the Passionate Pilgrim. MALONE.

7 Thou for whom Jove would swEAR-] Swear is here used as a dissyllable. MALONE.

8

for THY love.] England's Helicon reads:

"Turning mortal for my love." MALONE.

9 My flocks eel not, &c.] This Sonnet is also found in England's Helicon, 1600. It is there entitled The Unknown Sheepheard's Complaint; and subscribed Ignoto. It is likewise printed with some variations, in a Collection of Madrigals, by Thomas Weelkes, quarto, 1597. MALone.

'Love's denying, &c.] A denial of love, a breach of faith, &c. being the cause of all these misfortunes. The Passionate Pilgrim and Weelkes's book have-Love is dying, and-Heart's denying. The reading of the text is found in England's Helicon, except that it has-Love is, and Faith is. Renying is from the French, renier, to forswear. MALONE.

2 Causer of this.] Read-'Cause of this ; i. e. Because of this. STEEVENS. The old copy is right. The word causer is again used by Shakspeare in Love's Labour's Lost:

"And study too, the causer of your vow." MALONE. 3 All my merry JIG's are quite! forgot,] A jig was a metrical